May 2008 Archives

According to Pangos All-American Camp director Dinos Trigonis, John Wall (Word of God Academy in Raleigh, N.C.) is among the non-West players expected at the event, which runs Friday night until early Sunday afternoon at the Galen Center.

The 6-foot-3 Wall is one of the two best point guards in the national class of 2009 and is being recruited by North Carolina State and Memphis, as well as dozens of other schools.

Southern California standouts Jordan Hamilton (Dominguez) and Hollis Thompson (Loyola) will also be on hand, Trigonis said.

The San Antonio Spurs, less than 48 hours after winning in such impressive fashion in New Orleans during Game 7 of their series with the Hornets, led by the Lakers by 20 points, 65-45, with six minutes to go in the third quarter tonight in the Staples Center.

Quite a way to kickstart the start of the of the Western Conference finals, eh?

Uh . . . on the Lakers' part, it was. They came back and won by four points behind the league's MVP.

Don't look now but I doubt seriously if the defending NBA champions recover that one.

The Lakers will be playing in the championship series.

But if you're like the apparent overwhelming majority of basketball "fans" in Southern California, you already knew that, right?

The baseball teams from Los Alamitos and Lakewood lost coin flips for the right to play host to second-round CIF Southern Section Division I playoff games Tuesday.

But their counterpart from Wilson was more fortunate.

The top-ranked Los Alamitos Griffins, who beat Poly Thursday, 2-0, will visit Canyon of Anaheim Tuesday.

The Moore League champion Lancers, who knocked off Tustin Thursday, 10-2, will traveling to Valencia (in Valencia, not the one on Placentia).

And the Wilson Bruins, who cruised past Edison Thursday, 9-3, will be at home (presumably, Blair Field) Tuesday to take on Tesoro.

Each of the 16 home teams won first-round games in Division I Thursday.

In Division III games on Tuesday, Suburban League champion Mayfair will be at Elsinore while San Gabriel Valley League winner Paramount will be at home to Laguna Hills.

SGVL runner-up Downey, which rallied to beat El Rancho Thursday, 4-3, will play host to Quartz Hill.

The Cactus Classic traveling team boys' basketball tournament at the University of Arizona has proven every bit as competitive over the first two days as it was hyped to be.

And Southern California players are doing quite well in the event that began with 32 teams from across the country on Friday evening and was pared to eight late Saturday night.

Sunday morning's quarterfinal matches in the McKale Center included games between Belmont Shore and Compton Magic (10:10 a.m., Court 3) and Team Odom and the Northwest (Wash.) Panthers (10:10 a.m., Court 1).

Belmont Shore's roster includes Dominguez High senior Bryce Cartwright and a Dons' junior in Thurmon Woods. Cartwright hit the winning shot in Belmont's Sweet 16 overtime win over a team from Detroit (REACH) Saturday night. Also on the team is St. John Bosco freshman Cezar Guerrero.

The Compton Magic includes Cabrillo sophomore Deonta Burton.

Team Odom is led by Jordan Hamilton of Dominguez, and also includes Dons' junior Robert Mandino and sophomores Kalea King (who has played very well) and Kevin Smith.

The semifinals will be played at noon with the title game set for 2 p.m.

Dario Hunt, the 6-foot-7 forward from Charis Prep in Goldsboro, N.C., who played as a high school senior in Colorado Springs, signed a letter of intent with the University of Nevada Thursday.

Hunt had narrowed his college choices to Long Beach State and the Wolf Pack.

The Long Beach State mens' basketball staff apparently another day of waiting to find out if Dario Hunt, a 6-7 forward from Colorado Springs who played at a prep school in North Carolina this past season, will sign with the 49ers or the University of Nevada (the Reno version).

Hunt, who visited Long Beach a couple of weekends ago, had home visits on Monday with both LBSU head coach Dan Monson and his Nevada counterpart, Mark Fox.

Based on his quotes in this story in the Reno Gazette, it sounds as if the player may be leaning toward signing with the Western Athletic Conference program. And that, of course, isn't Long Beach, a member of the Big West.

Read the Reno Gazette-Journal article