Border League: California Standouts (Part III)

<p>Last weekend’s Border League event featured many of the top programs on the west coast with state representation from teams in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and more. Games from the highest division, the Top Flight Division, were featured on ESPN 2 Sunday with the title game resulting in IMG Academy defeating Coronado (NV) led by University of Texas-commit Tamar Bates and highly-regarded center Moussa Diabate.</p> <p>The California representation featured two CIF Southern Section Open Division-caliber teams, which were not able to go by official school names due to the event being out of season, including “Big Red” based out of Santa Ana and “Husky Nation” based out of Corona. Other SoCal based programs included “Eagle Select,” “San Diego Falcons,” “MoVal Mustangs,” and “NC Mavs,” among others.</p> <p>In this piece we take a look at some of the California based players who put together strong efforts during the Border League event.</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="970253" first="Vincent" last="Berlucchi"]</strong>, NC Mavs - The rangy 6-foot-6 forward looked comfortable with his new squad after transferring over from Santa Fe Christian. Berlucchi, a class of 2022 prospect, is adept at facing up and attacking the basket off the bounce where he uses a quick first step to blow by slower defenders and long strides to glide to the rim and finish.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="951263" first="Jake" last="Blazona"]</strong>, Eagle Select - The ultimate floor general continued to put on a show in decision making, high basketball IQ and all-around point guard skillset. Blazona, a 6-foot senior, is one of the most poised, controlled and unselfish players in all of Orange County and it results in his team running an efficient offense and his teammates trusting him to make the right decisions with the ball in his hands.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="954256" first="Khemanni" last="Davis"]</strong>, MoVal Mustangs - Davis is an intriguing 2022 off-guard prospect due to his slashing and finishing abilities to go along with his pull-up jumper. While his offensive package is solid, Davis makes his biggest impact on the defensive end as a guy who can guard 1-4 at the high school level, gives great energy on that side of the floor and values defensive stops as much as he does an open shot.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="951238" first="Nick" last="Herrmann"]</strong>, San Diego Falcons - Herrmann showed that he’s making a leap from solid glue-guy to a player who can go out and take over a game if needed. The 6-foot-2 combo guard is a lethal catch-and-shoot threat from three-point range, but is also an active defender, high IQ passer and has improved his ball handling against pressure. One stat line that displayed the senior’s all-around impact was a 24 point, eight rebound, seven assist effort in the Falcon’s opening game.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="970252" first="Otto" last="Landrum"]</strong>, San Diego Falcons - Landrum flashed moments of promise last season for the Falcons and has now firmly grasped on to the starting big man role. The 6-foot-8 power forward/center has great hands, touch, and footwork around the basket with a variety of post moves in his arsenal. Landrum looks to have improved his leaping ability, second jump and quickness off of the floor when contesting defensively or fighting for an offensive rebound.</span></p>