Phoenix Country Day at Phoenix Christian: JV Standouts

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On Thursday, Jan 12th I attended the 2A <strong>Phoenix Christian Cougars</strong> hosting the 2A <strong>Phoenix Country Day Eagles</strong>.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Before two Top-10 2A teams took the court, I caught the JV game with all freshmen involved.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2>Here were some of the standouts:</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1746197' first='Malakhai' last='Moore-Neal'] Phoenix Christian (Pictured) </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A top of the food chain athlete is very fluid. He seems to glide in the air and takes super long strides to get to the basket very quickly. He loves using the euro and can get downhill. He has the runner and scores it most efficiently currently in the paint. He can drive and kick it to a teammate, he has a jump hook shot in the lane and defends. He will rebound then outrace almost the entire team with his speed. He has big time body control and changes directions so quickly. He will surprise you with chase down blocks and comes off the bench on varsity. He should play heavier minutes next season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1746198' first='Cassius' last='Grimwade'] Phoenix Christian&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A thicker wing forward is one of their top scorers. He plays a little on varsity but does most of his work on JV. He handles it decently and uses his body to to carve out space and score it in the lane. He rattled off multiple catch triples and rebounds the ball at a high rate for a wing.&nbsp;He is another that will see a bigger workload next year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1746199' first='Chris' last='Gastelum'] Phoenix Christian&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A scoring guard with good size for position, awareness and skill. He makes smart reads and plays the game with a big IQ. He can shoot the three off the catch and dribble drive to the rim. He made his teammates jobs easier with his skill and mind.  </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kai Carter SG 5'11 2026 Phoenix Christian&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A fairly athletic shooting guard is a catch and shoot type. He can shoot the three and get into the painted area for layups. He plays with energy and runs the floor to open spots. He stays in front of his man on defense and competes. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Woo Jin PG 5'9 2026 Phoenix Christian</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The orchestrator of the JV offense was Jin. He is always keeping his head up and looking to facilitate to his teammates. He works smartly off the pick and roll game and will dime a cutter. He can shoot it off the catch beyond the stripe and has a decent burst of speed to get into the paint.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1746200' first='Hunter' last='Sansone'] Phoenix Country Day</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A scoring point guard who can make plays. He is a good passer in traffic and plays fast. His first instinct is definitely to score. He can catch and shoot from the stripe and has good quickness with the ball. Once he touches the paint he has a polished floater game.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Clemente Pappoe SF 5'11 2026 Phoenix Country Day</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A thicker wing gets downhill and scores thru contact. He has a high arcing three point shot and comes with some range. He uses the floater game and will rebound and score on put backs.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Gabe Rosen SG 5'11 2026 Phoenix Country Day</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An efficient scoring guard uses his left or right hand effectively on layups. He is a very good passer and plays with a huge IQ and has a good handle to get passed his defenders. He has very good anticipation to steal the ball with his long arms and quicker feet. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->