State Preview Classic: Sophomore Standouts (Pt. 2)
ONTARIO — The annual State Preview Classic hosted by Harvey Kitani had a co-host this year in Colony high school and coach Jerry DeFabiis. The always-loaded event had some of the top SoCal high school programs and prospects line it…
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Continue ReadingONTARIO — The annual State Preview Classic hosted by Harvey Kitani had a co-host this year in Colony high school and coach Jerry DeFabiis. The always-loaded event had some of the top SoCal high school programs and prospects line it up for an eight game event. Below are the game results and first set of top performers from the sophomore class.
Rancho Verde 61, Oak Hills 51
St. Francis 64, Long Beach Poly 60
Rolling Hills Prep 68, Saugus 58
Los Altos 61, Hillcrest 50
St. Anthony 60, Capistrano Valley Christian 59
Harvard-Westlake 79, Birmingham 55
Etiwanda 53, Colony 52
Corona Centennial 72, Crean Lutheran 57
Deshawn Gory, Hillcrest – A lot of people familiar with SoCal high school basketball are pointing to Gory as the next potential “sleeper” out of the Inland Empire region. The 6-foot-6 wing has all the makings of an intriguing long-term prospect, beginning with his frame and fluid athleticism. Gory has impressive length on his wiry frame to go along with his ease of jumping ability when rising up for finishes on the break. Gory also possesses a smooth shooting stroke which he consistently hits out to three-point range. The sophomore finished with a team-high 15 points in the loss to Los Altos.
Robert Hinton Robert Hinton 6'4" | CG Harvard-Westlake | 2024 State #147 Nation , Harvard-Westlake – Hinton is one part of a potentially lethal trio of sophomores at Harvard-Westlake as classmates Trent Perry and Christian Horry. All three are contributors off the bench on a solid Mission League squad bound for the Open Division and Hinton is one of the main pieces coach David Rebibo can build around. The 6-foot-4 wing has a high basketball IQ on both ends of the floor, plays with toughness and energy, and has transition finishing ability to go along with his perimeter shooting.
Santana Huff, Corona Centennial – Huff might be the most “unknown” player in this series of sophomore standouts, but that won’t be the case for much longer. The 6-foot-2 guard is the younger brother of Huskies’ senior Ramsey Huff Ramsey Huff 6'1" | CG Corona Centennial | 2022 State and has a similar game to his brother. Santana is a good jump shooter off the catch from three-point range and, in addition to his fundamental mechanics, gets great lift on his shot. What we liked most from Huff in this game was how well he played on the defensive end of the floor. He worked hard to deny wing catches and made it difficult on ball handlers to turn corners and get into the lane.
Trent Perry, Harvard-Westlake – As mentioned above, Perry is a cornerstone piece for the Harvard-Westlake future along with Hinton and Horry. The 6-foot-3 shooting guard is one of the perimeter shooters in SoCal. When he gets his feet set behind the arc, Perry is lethal from deep with his picturesque form. Perry has the ability to put up points in a hurry as he can catch fire from three at any point in the game.
Vyctorius Miller, Crean Lutheran – We’ve written about Miller a lot of the last few months and that’s because he has established himself as one of the premier sophomore scorers in the west and put himself on the national recruiting radar because of it. The 6-foot-4 guard is a dynamic playmaker off the bounce both for himself and his teammates. Miller has the three-level scoring ability you look for in a high major guard and at times he makes turnaround jumpers and tough finishes look easy. A lot of times with high level prospects you’ll see some forced shots, but Miller does a nice job of letting the game come to him.