NBPA Top 100 Camp: Santa Margarita duo shines in Virginia
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Max Agbonkpolo and Jake Kyman are doing their best this week during the NBPA Top 100 Camp to show why their Santa Margarita High squad will be one of the best in California next season.
The 6-foot-8 Agbonkpolo, who says that the Pacific 12 Conference’s USC, Arizona, Arizona State and Washington are among the programs recruiting him the heaviest, scored in double figures in his first four games with the “Spurs” this week in John Paul Jones Arena on the University of Virginia campus.
His scoring average took a big hit – to 9.5 points per game – when he was held scoreless Thursday night during his team’s 88-66 loss to the Warriors.
He got off to a particularly sweet debut at the camp Wednesday afternoon when he scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds in just 17 minutes of his team’s 102-94 decision over the Bucks.
The games are played with 12-minute quarters, with running clocks, and each player on an approximate 10-member roster is supposed to get something approaching 24 minutes of action each game.
Agbonkpolo has scored and rebounded here in the same fashion that those who’ve watch him evolve into an elite prospect have come to expect – he’s slashing by defenders and gotten to the rim for finger rolls or dunks.
Kyman – who committed to UCLA earlier in the spring – missed a game and a half’s worth of play after suffering suffered a sprained left ankle while landing on an opponent’s foot early in the third quarter of the Knicks’ second game Wednesday night.
But Kyman “tested” the ankle successfully Thursday night during his team’s second game of the day, scoring eight points with two rebounds, two assists and a steal in just 20 minutes during a 68-61 win against the Lakers.
A 3 by Kyman from the very deep right wing with less than a minute to play and the 24-second clock about to expire gave the Knicks a five-point advantage.
He’s scored 17 points in just 50 minutes of playing time stretched over three games.
Action resumes Friday evening and wraps up with the camp’s playoff championship game early Saturday evening.
Along with two games daily, the teams have also had full practices and drills work – conducted by current and former NBA players, notably Rajon Rondo, as well as prominent roster of high school coaches that includes Derrick Taylor of Taft in the San Fernando Valley.