Territorial Classic Recap: Top Defenders

<p>The Territorial Classic took place Friday, June 11th, until Sunday, June 13th. The tournament, which took place at Nets on Fire in St George, UT featured H.S, and Prep Programs from across the West Region. This high-level setting was designed to evaluate and provide exposure to under-the-radar prospects. All games were <a href="https://www.smithbrosnetwork.com/7outz">live-streamed</a> and included official stats. The tournament featured several players that could straight up, lockdown. In this article, we take a look at the top defenders from the tournament. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1022287" first="Khaman" last="Maker"] <em>7’1 C Desert Valley Prep 2024 (#2PHN 2024)</em> - Maker showed up and was dominant. The tournament did not keep track of official blocks, but he had a million. Deters everything at the rim, Maker has great timing and is a willing rim protector. </p> <p><strong>Carter Lankford</strong> <em>6’4 SF D1 Southern California 2022</em> <em>(featured image)</em> - Lankford has a good frame and plays with a high motor. At 6’4 he defends both 3’s and 4’s well. His extra effort mentality led to a ton of 50/50 wins and his instincts allowed him to get into the passing lanes to get steals and deflections. He was able to turn many of those steals into instant offense in transition. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="745456" first="Miles" last="Williams"] <em>6’2 SG Verdict 2021</em> - Williams was cat-quick on the defensive end. He used his hands to come up with several steals for Verdict. He had two steals in the Platinum Semifinal against Chosen Few but caused several others with his harassment and active hands. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="856644" first="Earnest" last="Brown"] <em>5’11 CG Las Vegas 2023 (#6PHN 2023)</em> - Brown was good in a few areas, however, it was his defense for me. The PG was one of the quickest players in the tournament, and he used it to hound ballhandlers. Brown also showed some good springs, blocking his share of shot attempts this weekend. The tempo-changing CG was one of the top ball hawks on the weekend. </p> <p>Dalton Runyon <em>6’2 SG D1 Southern California 2022</em> - Runyon’s instincts were amazing. He would lay in wait, just looking for the right moment, before jumping out of nowhere to intercept passes. He also had a knack for stripping ballhandlers on their way to the rim. The 6’2 guard was one of the top two-way players at the tournament. </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.smithbrosnetwork.com/7outz-bracket-edit">View Territorial Classic Results</a></p> <p>&nbsp;</p>