South Mountain Junior College (15-14, 9-12) is playing well as of late, as winners of their last two games. But South needed a win against visiting Pima Junior College (18-11, 10-11) on Saturday evening to improve their position in the conference playoffs in a week. Pima also needed a win after losing their last contest at Central Arizona on Wednesday. Despite another strong scoring output from their star 6-foot-6 sophomore forward Ben Gershman, who would finish with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds, South Mountain would overcome a halftime deficit to Pima to win the contest in front of…
Author: Anthony Ray
Planet Athlete Academy 6-foot-3 senior guard prospect Sammy Thompkins has been one of the more underrated guard prospects in the country for some time. After having a very strong spring and summer performance last club season, Thompkins was considered as the state’s best individual player early in the high school season, as he torched his opponents with numerous scoring outbursts. But Thompkins’ career would take a winding twist early in the season, when he was released from the Vikings’ basketball team by head coach Ray Portela. As a result, Thompkins has had to pick up his basketball career with Planet Athlete Academy this…
Corona Del Sol High School’s 6-foot-10 freshman post prospect Marvin Bagley is already the best prospect ever in the state of Arizona. While only time will tell if he actually develops into the prospect we all think he will become, he is already a ridiculous basketball prospect with amazing potential for the future. This season, Bagley has been amazing – helping lead his three-time defending state champion Aztecs to another almost perfect season thus far (28-1). Bagley has put up impressive numbers all season, and has become the state’s biggest attraction, for fans in the state and outside of it.…
With the spring evaluation period coming in April and college coaches across the country looking to finalize their rosters for next season, college coaches are looking to get a jump on their recruiting of the 2016 class. While many college coaches around the country often look for post talent late, this year division-I college programs seem to be most interested in signing a quality point guard prospect. As a result, the state of Arizona has not disappointed, as there are several high-major division-I prospects at the guard position still available in the 2015 class. Planet Athlete’s 6-foot-3 senior guard Sammy Thompkins, Hillcrest Academy 6-foot-3,…
Elite 1 Academy is a newer prep school located west of Phoenix. Quickly emerging as a top-rated program in the valley under the leadership of Tamika Goree – a hard-working female focused on raising the level of basketball in Arizona. Elite 1 Academy has developed rapidly into a serious basketball program for aspiring college basketball prospects. Brian Ali recently took over the men’s basketball program as head coach. A native of Chicago, Illinois, where he still has many strong basketball relationships, Ali now leads a rising basketball program with loads of talent. Here are my player evaluations of some of…
Cesar Chavez High School (25-3) came into Friday evening’s sectional playoff matchup with St. Mary’s High School as winners of their last 21 games in a row, an amazing accomplishment this high school season. But you would not have known that by the looks of the Division-I, Section-4 Championship game on Friday. St. Mary’s (16-11) has peaked as a team at the right time of the season, and it showed in their match-up with Chavez, as the Knights comfortably defeated Chavez from almost start to finish, for a nice 66-46 victory. Make no mistake about it, the St. Mary’s ballclub is led by the play…
Cesar Chavez High School is always one of the most athletic and talented teams in the state – each year. Regardless of what team head coach Gary Lee places on the floor, look out as the Champions are almost just that – champions. This season, Chavez (25-2) has been terrific. The team went into Wednesday night’s Division-I, Section 4 Playoff game as winners of their last 20 games on the season – an amazing effort by Coach Lee and his team. While Lee has received some criticisms in the past by basketball enthusiasts across the state for not winning it all…
Arizona’s 2016 class of prospects looks to be a strong class in the state, as two prospects in the class have already popped with verbal commitments to division-I programs. One prospect in the class that continues to improve and climb up the ladder among the other prospects in the class is Dysart High School’s 6-foot-10 junior post Malik Ondigo. While still developing a great deal, Ondigo has developed quickly and has emerged as one of the elite post prospects in the class. After an excellent spring and summer (2014) for himself, Ondigo showed excellent improvement as a player and became a serious division-I college…
The 2014-2015 junior college basketball season in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) is now in full swing. Here are this week’s Players of the Week in women’s basketball in the conference . . . ACCAC D-I Player of the Week: Kandiss Barber – Central Arizona Central Arizona’s Kandiss Barber averaged 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per game in wins over Scottsdale and Phoenix College last week. ACCAC D-II Player of the Week: Melody McLaughlin – Pima Pima’s McLaughlin averaged 17 points and 8 rebounds per game – including a 26 point and 11 rebound performance against Cochise College. Join the Forum discussion…
It has been a great week for my former schools. First my alma mater, Madison Meadows Jr. High, won this year’s conference championship and went undefeated, and then I had an opportunity on Thursday evening to observe my high school alma mater, the Moon Valley Rockets, compete on the road at Arcadia High School (18-8). Moon Valley (13-9) came into the game as winners of 3 of their last 4 games on the season, and looking to build some momentum before the state playoffs. The Rockets team is now fully healthy and playing their best basketball of the season, and at…