Las Vegas Pangos Easter Classic: SoCal standouts Part I
LAS VEGAS – The April 18-20 Pangos Elite Easter Classic, held at Bishop Gorman High, had a nice group of Southern California-based players from the Class of 2020 on hand. A big portion of those came via Belmont Shore…
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Continue ReadingLAS VEGAS – The April 18-20 Pangos Elite Easter Classic, held at Bishop Gorman High, had a nice group of Southern California-based players from the Class of 2020 on hand.
A big portion of those came via Belmont Shore and Veritas International (a prep school program under the guidance of former Cantwell-Sacred Heart and WCE 17s coach George Zedan).
Those squads met in a semifinal of the 17s division, with Veritas prevailing in a tight affair, 81-72.
It proved to be the final game in the division as the management of the Vegas Elite EYBL, the first semifinal winner Saturday (86-54 Over MBIII), elected to bypass playing in the finale.
Vegas Elite – which opens EYBL play in Georgia this weekend – has a talent-laden roster that includes Josh Christopher of Lakewood Mayfair, one of the elite guards in the country.
Both Veritas and Belmont had terrific guard play.
Veritas was led by 6-foot-3 “combo” Luis Riascos (San Gabriel Academy; he’s from Ecuador) and 6-1 point Malvin Payero (from the Dominican Republic, by way of Valley Christian in Cerritos).
Riascos and Payero haven’t cracked the recruiting landscape in a big way as of yet but that figures to change by July.
Dinos Trigonis’ squad got strong efforts over the weekend from one of Southern California’s better “pure scorers” in 6-3 Keith Dinwiddie (pictured) of Fairfax, whose jump shot with two seconds to go gave the squad a one-point win over the Utah Mountain Stars Gold club in a Saturday morning quarterfinal.
He’s got a chance to be the front-runner for L.A. City Player of the Year going into the 2019-20 season.
Another senior-to-be who was exceptional throughout for Belmont Shore was 6-8 Bradley Ezewiro of Bishop Montgomery (who will be playing for the Oakland Soldiers on the EYBL circuit this spring).
He was one of the better rebounders and low-post scorers in the entire event.
The Los Angeles-based ICAN All-Stars, who gave Vegas Elite the only serious run in the 17s division before falling, 101-98.
Six-eight Jabari Steward (Compton High) continued to show improvement since February, hitting several deep jumpers and rebounding forcefully, while JSerra point guard Justin Williams (who normally plays with the Southern California All-Stars with his high school backcourt-mate, Ian Martinez) impressed as both a playmaker and scorer for Rock Johnson’s crew in Las Vegas.
Demetrius Calip – all-L.A. City this past season at Taft in Woodland Hills – was a standout scorer for Cal Supreme, by way of deep, left-handed jumpers and drives.
One of the most surprising players at the event – from my perspective, at least – was 6-1 point-guard Stacey Johnson, who attends Oxnard High and was playing for the Team Build Up 17s in Las Vegas.
He was especially impressive Thursday night when he led his team to a bit of an upset over the ICAN All-Stars.