OC Two Step: Second Five

<p>On Saturday, I took a quick drive up Interstate 5 to catch a couple of San Diego teams in action at two different locations: Christian faced Moorpark in the opening game of the BSN Showcase, and Lincoln played Mission Viejo in a nonleague match.</p> <p>And in between, I watched a very entertaining overtime game between two of the Southern Section’s most talented squads, Fairmont Prep and West Ranch.</p> <p>This is the second of three reports on the top players I saw:</p> <h3>Jaqari Miles, 6-3 2023 SG, West Ranch</h3> <p>The stocky, sharpshooting combo guard hit a three at the top of the key to force OT against Fairmont Prep. Miles has a sweet shooting stroke from the perimeter, and uses his size and shiftiness to create space off the bounce to set up his mid-range pull-up. He handles the ball well enough in the half court and open court to serve as a good secondary ball handler. </p> <h3>[player_tooltip player_id="994904" first="Collins" last="Acheampong"], 6-8 2023 F, Fairmont Prep</h3> <p>Acheampong is a hard-working post presence who impacts the game with his rim running, rebounding and ability to finish pick-and-roll plays above the rim. He has good, but not great, hands, solid bounce and is strong enough to power through contact and finish at or around the rim. He needs to improve catching in traffic. </p> <h3>[player_tooltip player_id="974061" first="Kristian" last="Jemerson"], 6-4 2022 SG, Fairmont Prep</h3> <p>A long, lanky combo guard, Jemerson is a solid on-ball defender (uses his length and foot speed to cut off drives and close out on shooters) and proficient catch-and-shoot threat from the wing and corners. He hit three corner threes in the fourth quarter and overtime to nearly give Fairmont the victory. Jemerson doesn’t have a particularly explosive first step and if he can’t get buy the on-ball defender he struggles to get into the paint and consistently finish in the half court. But in today’s game, his two strengths - "three and D" - make him a solid unsigned prospect. </p> <h3>Zach Small, 5-9 2022 PG, Mission Viejo </h3> <p>Small’s first quarter against Lincoln was a master class in playing with balance on on two feet. Using a quick first step and crossover dribble, he was able to get into the paint at will, and used two-foot jump stops and excellent footwork to create scores in the paint (very polished floater and layup package). Lincoln went full denial for extended periods, which cooled him off a bit, but he managed to finish with 20 points, including big baskets in the second overtime to give his team the win. </p> <h3>Samson Hall, 6-3 2022 G/F, Moorpark</h3> <p>Hall is a bowling ball who wreaked havoc on Christian by getting downhill in the half court and transition and scoring everything around the bucket. He’s a right-hand dominant scorer who is almost impossible for guards to stop from getting to the rim once he has a step on them. Improving his off hand as well as tightening up his shooting mechanics will make him even tougher to guard in the halfcourt. If I am a junior college, he’d be on my list of players to watch. </p>