Scouts Take: Day 1 Recap of #PHHustleRegionFinals

<p>It was a day of frenetic action, hammer dunks and buzzer beaters, as The Hustle Region Finals was in full swing inside Momentous Sports Complex in Irvine. </p> <p>Teams from across the Western Region battled it out in three brackets, setting up quarterfinals, semifinals and championship games today.</p> <p>Here were some observations from Day 1 of the action. </p> <p>Scouts Take: Day 1 Recap of #PHHustleRegionFinals</p> <h2>Game of the Day</h2> <h3>Multilevel Select 76, Team Fuego 74 </h3> <p>Yes, this was a consolation bracket game, but Multilevel and Team Fuego of Washington put together a pretty impressive, down-to-the-wire game that was decided by one of the unlikeliest culprits.</p> <p>After Nate Simon (5-10 2023 PG, Jurupa Hills) and Jake Hall (6-2 2025 G, Carlsbad) had combined for 67 points to keep Multilevel level with Fuego, it was Dalton Runyon, a 6-3 2023 guard from Rancho Bernardo, who it a corner three to give Multilevel the lead after trailing by 1 in the game’s final seconds. </p> <p>But the story of the game was the electric scoring performances by Simon and Hall, who combined for 9 threes and scored it in every way imaginable. Simon finished with 34, Hall, who is shaping up to be one of the top 2025 players in California, finished with 33. </p> <p>For Team Fuego, impressive 2023 guard Myles Damon recorded a triple double (13 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists) and Vaughn Weems scored a team-high 20 points and 9 rebounds. </p> <h2>Most dominant performance</h2> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/08/IMG_0122-crop-1583x1040-1627803494.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1255720" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/08/IMG_0122-crop-1583x1040-1627803494-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a></p> <h3>Daniel Ameyaw, Coastal Elite</h3> <p>After finishing off the evaluation on a high note with Gamepoint, Ameyaw suited up for fellow San Diego program Coastal Elite for the Hustle Region Finals, and didn’t disappoint. </p> <p>Throwing down thunderous dunks and grabbing rebounds in the paint and chasing down long ones off of missed threes, Ameyaw, a 6-8 rising senior at Balboa School, had 19 points and 14 rebounds in a 71-69 opening round win over Splash City AAU. </p> <p>Ameyaw showed some things he didn’t during the evaluation periods, including the ability to push the ball ahead in transition with the dribble, and finishing more consistently above the rim in traffic. </p> <p>In short, he was a beast. </p> <h2>Biggest surprises</h2> <p><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/08/IMG_0138-crop-1907x1253-1627803557.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1255722" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/08/IMG_0138-crop-1907x1253-1627803557-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a></p> <h3>Jackson Bernardo, 2022 PG, Genesis Hoops</h3> <p>The 6-2 point guard from Great Oak (CA) showed really solid feel and played with excellent poise when his team fell down by 9 points to Coastal Elite Premier in the second half. Racking up a near triple double (12 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists), it was his passing against the grain to cutters and open shooters on the weak side that caught my attention. </p> <h3>[player_tooltip player_id="1241594" first="Miguel" last="Yniguez"], 2022 F, Coastal Elite </h3> <p>A long 6-7 sniper, Yniguez (Canyon Crest Academy) hit three threes from the right wing in less than 90 seconds to give Coastal Elite the late lead over Splash City, and then put the exclamation point on the win with a steal and breakaway dunk. It was his play in the mid-post in the first half, however, that kept Coastal in the game until his teammates could get things going. Yniguez scored a floater, a layup through contact and spot-up jumper from 15 feet, and looked very comfortable navigating traffic from the midpost. </p> <h2>Deepest Team</h2> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>AZ Select Showtime</h3> <p>The UA Rise team notched a 75-49 win over L.O.B. Elite (CO) in its first game, and when looking for a standout, I was stumped because almost everyone who played contributed to the win. Five players scored in double figures. Leading the way was 6-4 2022 G Chase Mayo Harmon (13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals), a jack-of-all-trades combo guard with a high motor. But the steady point guard play of Orlando Gonzales, the slashing and athletic finishes and flashy assists from 6-1 guard Sidney Wooten, the sharpshooting of 6-7 F Xavier Ali and 6-3 SG Harry Reede and the upside of 6-3 G Shamar Moore all stood out. </p> <p>Oh, and the forceful finishing and board work of 6-6 F D’Mari Johnson. </p> <p>See what I mean? Lots of depth. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <h3>Other notes:</h3> <ul> <li>6-0 2022 PG Brandin Jackson (Vista Murrieta/ Genesis Hoops) had a strong outing vs Coastal Elite Premier. The cat-quick point guard was disruptive on defense and rivaled his teammate Jackson Bernardo with his passing and court savvy.</li> <li>Del Norte’s supporting cast will be plenty deep next year, if the play of Harry Li, Nicholas Gee, Isaiah Dinh, Jackson Cottle and Charlie Parson for Coastal Elite Premier is any indication. All five contributed both from the perimeter (Dinh, Gee and Cottle) and in the paint (Parson and Li).</li> <li>L.O.B. Elite got solid performances from the Sterling Brothers. 6-4.5 W Donovan, a rising senior, has great length, athleticism, shooting touch and a great motor. Brother Xavier, about two inches shorter and 20 pounds heftier, is a relentless slasher going to his dominant (left) hand. The unsigned senior could be a solid junior college option.</li> <li>Coastal Elite 16u got solid performances from 6-5 2023 W Trey Vergenz, 6-4 2022 W Kyle Neff and 6-0 "point forward" Pe’a Misaalefua in an OT win over Idaho Premier. Vergenz, Neff and Misaalefua knocked down threes from deep and Misaalefua, as documented by me several times, is a very good basketball player in a football player’s body. </li> <li>Idaho Premier has an intriguing long-term wing prospect in 6-6 Nathan Ojukwu (Mt. View, ID). The crafty lefty scored it off the dribble in the paint and got to the free throw line at will. His jumper needs some work, but the physical tools are there. He’s got a chance. </li> <li>Gamepoint 15u Supreme has a very skilled and upside-laden prospect in 6-8 2024 F Samuel Galindo. The rising sophomore has very good ball skills and can score it from midrange and from deep, but needs to add toughness and a go-to move in the post to round things out. </li> <li>Watch out for Chosen Few in the 15u Bracket. The dangerous 2024 G Alijah Adem has been scoring it at will (averaged 25 points per game) and 6-6 F Pharaoh Compton turned his two games into a personal dunk contest. The athletic forward has an impressive ability to finish dunks through traffic and contact. </li> <li>6-2 2021 G Omarion Thomas-Marshall (Bullard (CA)/ Splash City) had a dominant performance in a close loss to Coastal Elite. The physical, crafty scoring guard put up 28 points (9-17 FG), 8 rebounds and 4 assists, scoring from all three levels. He hunts shots at times, but his shot-making can’t be ignored. </li> </ul> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>