The best high school players in the nation gathered in Phoenix this past week for the 9th annual Hoophall West showcase. This event, which is put on by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, brings together some of the best high school basketball talent in both Arizona and around the country.
According to the Hoophall website, “the event serves as the west coast version of the original Springfield, Massachusetts-based Hoophall Classic,” which has been running for almost 20 years.
The tournament took place over four days, from Dec. 8 to Dec. 11, with the first three days taking place at Chaparral High School and the final day being split between Chaparral and the Footprint Center.
This year’s field includes Arizona basketball powerhouses AZ Compass Prep, Dream City Christian School, Sunnyslope High School and Phoenix St. Mary’s Catholic High School along with national powerhouses Montverde Academy from Florida, Sierra Canyon from California, Oak Hill from Virginia and Duncanville from Texas
The first men’s game was a matchup between top Arizona programs, Dream City Christian and AZ Compass Prep. Many college scouts and coaches were in attendance, as well as former NBA player and current Hillcrest Prep coach, Mike Bibby.
Dream City Christian was playing without their best player, ESPN’s no. 1 overall recruit for 2022, Shaedon Sharpe, after he decided to enroll early at Kentucky to gain more experience practicing at the collegiate level.
Even without Sharpe, Dream City’s roster is full of talent. At point guard they have Milos Uzan, an Oklahoma commit who is ranked no. 52 in the class of 2022 by ESPN. They also have ESPN’s no. 29 recruit for 2022, big man Yohan Traore, who is currently uncommitted. Not to mention their other big man in the middle 7-footer Shawn Phillips.
However, they faced a real test in AZ Compass Prep, which many call the best team in Arizona. Compass Prep has loads of talent with top recruits coming off of their bench. They have a talented duo of juniors, Mookie Cook and Kylan Boswell, who are both ranked top 20 recruits by ESPN. Alongside those two, Compass Prep also has Auburn commit Chance Westry, UCLA commit Dylan Andrew, and highly-ranked, uncommitted forward Sadraque Nganga.
From the start, there was a notable difference in the two squads’ benches. Compass Prep’s bench was clapping, chanting and locking arms throughout the game while Dream City’s bench looked rather empty. They played seven players throughout the game and only had two bench points.
Compass Prep on the other hand had 26.
AZ Compass Prep looked locked in from the beginning.
They played intense defense forcing multiple turnovers in the first half and on offense they looked a step quicker than Dream City. As soon as Compass Prep forced a turnover they were flying down the court looking to get a quick bucket in transition. They also shared the ball really well, which led to five of their players scoring in the double digits.
Dream City ran their offense through Uzan and the connection between him and the big man Phillips was their primary source of offense. Besides Uzan, there wasn’t anyone able to create a shot for themselves which was made no easier by Compass Prep’s pestering defense. That defense held Dream City to just 1-10 shooting from three.
Compass Prep was able to open up a 15-point lead before the half and it would only get worse from there. Dream City was outscored 34-17 in the third quarter before both teams would score less than 10 points in the fourth quarter.
Fouling also proved to be a struggle for Dream City as they had 22 personal fouls as well as some technical fouls which resulted in coach Kyle Weaver being ejected. Compass Prep shot 26-31 from the stripe.
The game ended 81-47 in favor of Compass Prep after they led by as much as 37 in the fourth. The standout for Dream City was Uzan who shot 6-11 and finished with 16 points and 7 assists. Phillips also performed well with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks.
For Compass Prep there were no real standouts, but everyone played well. Cook finished with 10 points and 4 assists on 4-4 shooting while Andrews also shot perfect from the field, scoring 14 points on 5-5 shooting. Boswell, who recently transferred to Compass Prep, also contributed 13 points on 3-4.
Compass Prep would go on to play Oak Hill Academy at the Footprint Center later in the weekend.
In the second men’s game of the day, it was another matchup of two Arizona schools, Brophy Prep against Phoenix St. Mary’s. Phoenix St. Mary’s entered the season as the preseason no. 1 in 4A by the Arizona Republic while Brophy was no. 2 in 6A in the same rankings.
This game was quite unlike the previous, going down to the last shot of the game. Being a matchup of local teams, both teams had student sections, though it should be noted St. Mary’s student section was about twice the size of Brophy’s.
As the fans went back and forth the two teams did the same thing. The defense was strong on both ends with active hands forcing turnovers from each team. St. Mary’s began to break away in the beginning, taking a 20-11 lead in the first quarter, before being outscored 21-8 by Brophy in the second.
Most of the St. Mary’s offense came through guards Styles Phipps and Garrison Phelps. Brophy balanced the scoring well with power-forward Trey Phillips scoring some highlight buckets including an and-one dunk late in the first half.
It would continue back and forth throughout the second half as Brophy steadily hit shots, but St. Mary’s refused to back down, hitting big shots on the other end. Phelps scored back-to-back three-pointers in the fourth quarter to give St. Mary’s the lead with less than 4 minutes remaining. Phelps would finish as the game’s top scorer with 27 points on 8-15 shooting.
After a series of fouls down the stretch, Brophy had a 65-62 lead. St. Mary’s called a timeout and drew up their plan. Once the referee’s whistle blew St. Mary’s found Phelps who slipped past his defenders and put up a running three-pointer at the buzzer which rimmed out. Brophy won 65-62 in a bit of an upset.
Brophy’s Trey Phillips earned player of the game, even after fouling out, on the back of his 13 points and 6 boards on 5-6 shooting.
The St. Mary’s faithful left the gym at Chaparral with disappointment on their faces as the Brophy fans stayed to cheer for their team.
The final game of the evening featured two out-of-state teams, Legacy Charter School from South Carolina, and Prolific Prep from California.
Legacy Charter School lacks the same level of recruits as many of the previously mentioned schools, but it is the former school of Brooklyn Nets center Nicolas Claxton.
On the other hand, Prolific Prep is the former school of Jalen Green and Gary Trent Jr.
Prolific has multiple top recruits including Dior Johnson, ESPN’s no. 3 overall point guard for 2022, who is committed to Oregon after de-committing from Syracuse back in 2020. Johnson did not play in this game.
Playing in the game Prolific had ESPN’s no. 17 player in 2022, 6-9 center and UCLA commit Adem Bona. Two more top-35 recruits joined him in Kansas commit MJ Rice, and USC commit Tre White.
Despite the high-profile players, the gym had mostly emptied out by the time this game started with all the Brophy and St. Mary’s fans gone. By the end of the game, the gym had less than 25 people inside.
Defense was the story early on with lots of missed shots forced by the defensive pressure. Legacy got off to the slightly stronger start and led 13-11 at the end of the first quarter after Prolific shot 30% from the field.
Prolific regained the lead by half after they capitalized upon quick buckets in transition. They looked to find Bona down-low and he was having his way on the glass. There were eight different lead changes throughout the game but Prolific held the lead for the majority of the second half and a total of 21 minutes.
Throughout the second half, both teams continued playing solid defense with Prolific forcing Legacy into bad shots and pushing the ball down court quickly afterward. They were able to open a lead by the end of the third quarter and they wouldn’t lose it again.
Legacy would continue fighting until the end of the game, but it would still finish 64-53 in favor of Prolific.
Legacy didn’t shoot under 40% in any quarter, yet they shot just 33% on the game from beyond the arc. That was still better than Prolific’s 13% from three, but they shot 50% from the field and 80% from the free-throw line, both better than Legacy’s percentages.
The star of the show for Prolific was White; the point guard finished with 17 points on 5-11 shooting to go along with 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 blocks and 5 turnovers. Bona was another standout performer for Prolific scoring 15 points on 6-8 shooting along with 7 boards. He was a force underneath and Legacy had no real answer for his size and athleticism on defense.
MJ Rice also scored 13 points for Prolific on 6-12 shooting to go along with 8 rebounds.
Legacy didn’t have any standout scorers, but Coen Carr shot 5-7 from the field and 2-2 from three, scoring 14 points, the most of any Legacy player.
In the end, it was tough defense and quick transition play, leading to 36 points in the paint, that made the difference for Prolific Prep.
It was a successful weekend for basketball fans in Arizona and a great test for many of the nation’s best High School basketball programs. Lots of players put their names on the map while other players cemented their status as future superstars.
Contact the reporter at hccampb1@asu.edu.
