Clovis North Nike Fall Shootout: Under the Radar Wings

Fresno, CA - This past weekend, Saturday, October 3rd, and Sunday, October 4th, Clovis North hosted the Nike Fall Shootout, which featured teams from Fresno, Clovis, Bakersfield, Merced, Turlock, San Francisco, Folsom, Stockton, and Visalia in a Pool Play format on Day 1, followed by Bracket Play on Sunday. I was in attendance for both days and was able to cover a good amount of games before I headed out the gym Sunday early afternoon. This article takes a look at 5 under the radar wings from the classes 2028 through 2030 that performed well at the Shootout. In this article you will find the following information: the player's name, height, player position, current school they are attending, and the stats I kept from the event. We begin this article with a look at [player_tooltip player_id='3595164' first='Jacarius' last='Howard'], a prospect that people need to learn.    The 6-foot-7 wing/forward is a physical and athletic player that is active on the glass, is a versatile defender impacting the paint and the perimeter, and can space the floor from beyond the arc to open up the floor and pull bigs away from the basket. Howard is one player I have heard a lot about but had not seen him live until the Shootout, and he did not disappoint one bit, showing his 3-level scoring ability, dominance in the paint, and athleticism mixed with power to showcase why he is a player to keep an eye on and will push for the top spot in the 2029 player rankings for the Central Section. Howard would score 13 points, to go with 3 steals and a block in a win over Merced, and finished the weekend of play at the Shootout with a game-high 20 points and 5 rebounds in a tough loss to Central East of Fresno. Howard controls the boards on both ends, is a quick leaper to corral the ball and get points off put-backs, limits opponents to single shot possessions, has the handles and court vision to push the ball up the court and go coast to coast for the flush or make good reads up the court to get ahead of the defense, has a long wingspan, active hands, and good timing to blocks shots in the paint, deflect entry passes, jump passing lanes, and alter shots on the perimeter with good lateral movement to close out on jump shooters. Howard has solid handles to attack from the top of the key/the perimeter, the moves to create off the dribble, using the crossover, hesitation, and fadeaway to get space from his defender, is effective with the jumper off the dribble, from the mid-range to the 3-point line, is a creative scorer around the basket, using the spin-move, euro-step, drop-step, and up-and-under to score around the basket, as well as the strength score through contact around the basket. Very impressive first look at the wing/slasher and he will be one of the top producing sophomores in the Section based on what I saw in 3 games at the Shootout.     The 6-foot-4 wing/slasher has the physical build to enforce his game on opponents, the ability to score from 3-levels, and can space the floor from beyond the arc to score in volume. Owens had a monster showing on Day 2 of the Shootout in bracket play in a loss to Frontier of Bakersfield, where he would lead all scorers with 23 points, connecting on 3 threes, and scoring all but 12 of his team's points, which made his outing even more impressive given that the defense knew who was getting the shots. Owens has a strong handle on the ball, keeps the dribble alive to probe the defense for openings to attack, has the moves to create space from his defender off the balance, using the crossover, wrap-behind, hesitation, fadeaway, and step-back to get open looks, is accurate with the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line, uses his burst combined with physicality to get downhill, creating paint touches, where he uses the euros-step, spin-move, and up-and-under moves to evade defenders and score in tight windows. Owens moves well off the ball, gets to his shot spots, has good size to shoot over perimeter defenders, and is effective with the 3-ball off the catch, as was evident with the 4 threes, threes of them after the break, against Frontier.     The 6-foot-4 wing/guard stood out immediately after about 2 minutes of watching the second varsity squad for Buchanan, displaying shot-making, body control, poise, defense, and play making far beyond most freshman, and I would be shocked if he is not playing on varsity this season. I did not stat the game I watched against Immanuel, but did take notes and got a great first look at the two-way impact player. Perez has great handles, keeps the dribble alive to survey the floor, has an array of moves to create off the bounce, using the crossover combos, hesitation, fadeaway, and spin-move to get open looks, combined with a burst of speed and the body control to absorb contact en route to the basket, and is a crafty scorer around the basket with touch on the close range shots, making use of the euro-step, up-and-under, and reverse lay-ups to evade shot blockers around the basket. Perez has good court awareness and poise to make good reads to find open teammates up the court or in the half-court setting, connecting with teammates cutting off the ball, cutting to get open, or off the drive and kick pass. The offensive skill set is there and is impressive, but I was focused more on his defensive presence and versatility, with the height and build to hold up against big and older players, with the agility and active hands to stay in front of perimeter players showing the timing to deflect passes or jump passing lanes to turn defense to offense. A player to keep an eye on for sure for the next four years.     The 6-foot-3 wing/slasher has good length, court awareness on both ends, plays to his strength with so much left to be discovered in his game, and can light it up from beyond the arc to score in volume. Powe, along with Howard discussed above, were two pleasant surprises for Clovis East and Powe displayed accuracy with the 3-ball all weekend at the Shootout, averaging 8 points over the 3 games I watched him play, but more importantly, connecting on at least one three in each game, with 3 threes in the game against Liberty of Brentwood. Powe has a lengthy wingspan, good lateral movement, active hands, good timing and instincts, deflects entry passes, jumps passing lanes, pokes the ball out, alters/blocks shots on the wing or from the weakside in the paint, and crashes the glass with the handle to push the ball or find his outlet and run the floor to get ahead of the defense. Powe has solid handles, the moves to attack from the perimeter, using the crossover, hesitation, and wrap-behind to get by his defender, uses his long strides to get by his initial defender, and has touch and body control on finishes at the basket. What was most impactful from his game at the Shootout was his ability to space the floor with the 3-ball off the catch, which forced his defender to close out and left Howard one-on-one with a smaller defender. I saw him for the first time back in June and he has made some strides in a short period of time and another freshman with a big upside.     The 6-foot-5 forward/slasher is active around the basket, finds openings around the basket to get open looks, and is a quality rim protector with the wingspan and timing to impact shots around the basket. Turner had a great game against El Capitan of Merced on Day 2 of the Shootout in bracket play, as he would finish with 8 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks to display his impact on both ends. Turner moves constantly on the offensive end, slashing from the high-post to the low-post, block to block, and on the dive off the pick and roll action, where he seals his defender off nicely to get open, has great touch around the basket, controls the boards on both ends to get points off the missed shot, outlets off the defensive rebound to get up the floor for transition points. Turner has good length and agility, has good timing and lateral movement to deflect passes, jump passing lanes, block shots in the paint, and alter shots on the perimeter. I expect him to be a major piece for the Titans and you don't have to draw up many plays for him.

Fresno, CA - This past weekend, Saturday, October 3rd, and Sunday, October 4th, Clovis North hosted the Nike Fall Shootout, which featured teams from Fresno, Clovis, Bakersfield, Merced, Turlock, San Francisco, Folsom, Stockton, and Visalia in a Pool Play format on Day 1, followed by Bracket Play on Sunday. I was in attendance for both days and was able to cover a good amount of games before I headed out the gym Sunday early afternoon. This article takes a look at 5 under the radar wings from the classes 2028 through 2030 that performed well at the Shootout. In this article you will find the following information: the player's name, height, player position, current school they are attending, and the stats I kept from the event. We begin this article with a look at Jacarius Howard Jacarius Howard 6'6" | SF/C Clovis East | 2029 CA-N , a prospect that people need to learn.