NW Summer Invitational Preview

Summer school basketball kicks off in June and for some teams, it will get off to a fast start this weekend at the NW Summer Invitational from HoopSource. The Varsity D1 field will feature some of the top teams and players from the Portland Metro area, including some from Southwest Washington as well, with all games being held Saturday and Sunday at Liberty High School in Hillsboro.

In a late change, Jefferson will be bringing their top "Blue" team to the event (they were previously scheduled to go to Seattle).  The 6A state runnerups will bring back rising juniors Nate Rawlins-Kibonge and Kamron Robinson in a frontcourt whose size will be hard to contend with.  The tournament will also mark some of the first games that senior transfer Micah Garrett will be playing with the team after coming in from West Linn.  Jalen Adams, Lamar Washington, Trejon Williams, and transfer Keshawn Hall will all be players to keep an eye on as well.

The team with the second most name recognition will likely be Grant. The Generals will have a number of returnees off their state tournament team, namely to-be seniors Erik Fraser, Laquandre Taylor, and Max von Arx. Emanuel Steward is also back and ready for a bigger role and younger players like Jae'Sean Pete are ones to watch. Senior Tai Warner also joins head coach Robert Key's squad after spending last year playing as an amateur in the Thailand professional league.

Two other PIL schools are represented in the field. Roosevelt figures to challenge in the league race next season as head coach Yusuf Leary continues to build his program there. Back for the Roughriders are to-be seniors Jayoni Moore and Malik Kelley and rising junior Brandon Hopson has had a spectacular spring so far playing AAU Ball. Lincoln will look to get experience at the event with a number of new players on the squad.

Westview figures to be the non-Portland school team liable to make the most noise. The Wildcats were a missed three away from making it to the state tournament and a number of talented young players return, namely rising juniors Jalen Grable and Brady Grier. De La Salle North is in the event and the defending 3A champions are no slouch, especially since they feature electric guard George Sadi. And Oregon City is hoping to make a good showing, led by underrated point guard Andre Best.

A handful of teams from Southwest Washington will be in town, most notably Battle Ground which features the individual player with the most name recognition in Kaden Perry. The star junior-to-be big man was quite impressive at times this spring with the Rose City Rebels. Evergreen and Fort Vancouver will also be in the field, as will Camas which is fielding two teams, Red and Black.

Games in the Varsity D1 division will run all day Saturday at Liberty High School with the championship game played at 11:20 AM on Sunday morning.