LIVERMORE, Calif. – The marquee boys game of the Fifth Annual NorCal Sports TV All NorCal Games turned out to be a rout after the Bay Area seniors handily defeated the seniors from Sacramento 133-91 on Saturday afternoon at Las Positas College.
Bay Area was led by Oregon State-bound Jordan Pope, a 6-2 point guard from Prolific-Prep-Napa that pretty much shot the lights out after going 9-for-12 from the field and 5-for-8 from three-point land to finish with a game-high 24 points with six rebounds and four assists.
Seven other players were in double-figure scoring for Bay Area with local product Kevin Gad of Granada-Livermore finishing with a double-double 17 points and 10 rebounds, Will Heimbrodt of Archie Williams also went for a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Takai Emerson-Hardy of Vanden-Fairfield was 8-for-11 from the field and finished with 16 points, Devin Carson of Deer Valley-Antioch had 14 points, St. Mary’s-bound Aidan Mahaney of Campolindo-Moraga had 13 points, and Chico State-committed JoJo Murphy of Piedmont and Southern Idaho-committed Austin Johnson of Salesian-Richmond finished with 11 points apiece.
Before the seats were even warm Bay Area had bolted out to a 15-4 lead that was a 49-20 advantage but Sacramento showed a little life and went on a 10-0 run but Bay Area answered with a 10-0 run of its own and when Mahaney hit a three-pointer to end the first half the lead was 62-32 and the game was pretty much academic and turned into a dunk-a-thon.
Noah Thomas of Pleasant Valley-Chico led four Sacramento players in double-figure scoring with 16 points and nine rebounds, Brycen Shackelford of Folsom added 15 points, Omari Nesbit on Burbank-Sacramento had 14 points and Bethune Cookman-bound Jayson Matthews of Grant-Sacramento added 11 points.
209 Boys best Central
The other senior boys game pitted a 209 group from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section against Central with players from the CIF Central Section with 209 coming from 10 down midway through the first of two 20 minute halves and 51-45 at halftime to post a 102-94 victory.
Kyle Monk, a Fresno Pacific-commit from Gregori-Modesto set an All NorCal Games boys record for points scored with 37 including going 9-for-13 from three-point range. Monk, who went for 24 points in the second half, also had six rebounds and five assists. The previous records were 36 points and seven three-pointers in 2018 by Nathan Robinson of Las Lomas-Walnut Creek.
Two other 209 players hit double-figure scoring with College of the Sequoias-bound Alex Argandar of Modesto Christian hitting for 18 points and six rebounds and San Diego State-signed Miles Byrd and Lincoln-Stockton finishing with 16 points and six rebounds.
Central got 27 points on a sizzling 13-of-19 shooting by Fresno State-committed JoJo Hunter of San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno. Tyus Parrish-Tillman of Clovis West-Fresno added 16 points, Dre Roman of St. Joseph-Santa Maria had 15 points and Cameron Brown of Independence-Bakersfield chipped in with 14 points.
A new star named Whitley is born in middle school game
The Boys Middle School game was divided into Blue and White teams with Blue running away with it in a 120-90 victory.
The game featured a 44-point performance by Blue team’s Raymond Whitley that shattered the previous Middle School boys game record of 27 points set in 2019 by King-Njhsanni Wilhite who currently stars at Archbishop Riordan-San Francisco.
Whitley resides in South San Francisco, attends Town School for Boys, and plays for the Oakland Soldiers EYBL team. At the press conference following the game Whitley said he plans on attending St. Ignatius-San Francisco.
Although his performance was somewhat overshadowed by Whitley, Rashod Cotton Jr. from Oakland also broke the scoring record after registering 29 points for Blue. Another Blue team star as Mana’omia Tito from San Francisco who plays for the San Francisco Hoopsters. He had a huge double-double 22 points and 19 rebounds.
Brentwood resident Brady Lockrem was game-high for the White team and tied the scoring record with 27 points including five three-pointers. White team also got 24 points from Aiden Rollins out of Elk Grove.
There were a handful of seventh-graders in the middle school game but all players mentioned were eighth-graders.
