Christianson, Dill and Galloway Turn In Monster Performances Recently
Photo Credit: DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Ethan Christianson (Ambrose), Slade Dill (Dietrich) and Jalen Galloway (Mountain View) turned in a trio of excellent performances recently for their teams. Prep Hoops Idaho takes a closer look at each player and their early season success.
For Christianson, a notable on the baseball diamond (Christianson signed a LOI with Seattle University to play baseball), his 56 points for Ambrose in their overtime win against Baker (Oregon) 84-81 sent shock waves through the Idaho prep hoops world over this past weekend. The 6 foot 3 guard demonstrated his elite skills at scoring the basketball and getting to the line, some of which that landed him with First Team 1A Division I All-Idaho honors as a junior last season. It seems like Christianson may eclipse his 19.9 point average from a season ago, especially if he keeps lighting up the nets like he did against Baker.
Christianson is an athlete in every sense of the definition and he will continue to show that this season for the Archers.
Slade Dill has been an early season name we have looked at in a number of our previews heading into 17-18, and for good reason. On any night Dill can seemingly stuff the stat sheet in which he did during the championship game of the Blue Devil Holiday Tournament over the weekend. Dill, who plays for his father Wayne Dill, finished with 32 points and 19 rebounds in the contest. In fact, his father and head coach Wayne Dill told Victor Flores of MagicValley.com, ¨that was as good an all-around game as we have had in years.¨
In the game prior, Dill accounted for 18 points in a 78-58 win over Council. The 6 foot 6 forward is off to a very nice start and appears to be firmly on the radar as a 2018 prospect who will be moving up our rankings very soon.
Finally, we finish this trio off with a future College of Idaho Yote in Jalen Galloway, whom poured in 30 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in a win over Middleton 70-55. Galloway currently sits as the number 2 ranked 2018 player in Idaho and with performances such as this he is staking his claim to the position. Last season, Galloway averaged 13.5 points a game, and it seems like his offseason work has propelled him to be a more efficient scorer with the basketball. We already knew he could rebound the ball extremely well, but the added versatility in scoring is great to see.
In an interview shortly after Galloway announced his commitment to the Yotes, current College of Idaho head coach Scott Garson raved about the perimeter play potential for Galloway. Perhaps that hard work spent in the gym working on said part of his game is now paying off as we see this sort of performance from the incredibly athletic wing. Without question Mountain View head coach John Nettleton has a unique player on his hands and one that has helped his team get off to a 1-1 start.
With just a couple games under each of their belts, these three players have already proven their worth in the prep hoops Idaho landscape. These sort of game performances will likely be more common as we move ahead in the season, but it is great to see these type of top prospects already thriving for their respective teams. PHID will keep firm tabs on these young prospects and more as we move closer to the 5 game mark, a nice barometer to check in and see who else is dominating play for their schools as each chase down a coveted state title opportunity come early Spring.