IRVINE, Calif. – The Bay City Warriors, or the @BayCityDubs as they’re called on social media, travelled to Orange County for the Boys Cali Live Summer Showcase certified NCAA viewing event, and came away as one of the top teams in the 60-team 17U Division of the 128-team event
The nine-player Bay City Warriors U17 squad made up of players from San Francisco, the Peninsula and Marin, and coached by San Francisco-based high school coaches Randy Bessolo (University) with assistance from Jason Greenfield (St. Ignatius), were nearly perfect over the four-day event held July 10-13 at the 21-court Momentous Sports Center Irvine.
The Dubs won Pool A and their first three games before falling 62-58 to a Prodigy 17 Elite team from the Inland Empire whose 10-player roster has eight graduated seniors in the lineup.
Because the Boys Cali Live Summer Showcase is a certified viewing event Division 1 college coaches can attend, players that graduated in 2025 can play in hopes of snagging a college scholarship offer.
The Dubs opened with a 72-55 win on Friday over Cali Stars Black out of Santa Monica. They followed that up with two solid wins on Saturday, 85-61 versus BOSS Basketball from Oregon and 61-48 against Strive Australia – Jonathon from Down Under.
In the Sunday matchup with Prodigy Elite 17, the Bay City Warriors came out strong and took a 6-0 lead on consecutive three-pointers by incoming St. Ignatius 6-9 senior Ty Landers and incoming senior University 6-2 guard Lucas Lau.
From there, however, the Dubs offense began to stagger and seemed a little bothered by the size and aggressive defense of Prodigy. After holding a 12-10 lead, they gave up a 7-0 run to fall behind 17-12 and eventually went to 25-9 creating a 35-21 deficit near the end of the first half.
Bay City cut it to 37-26 at the half and played hard in the second half but never were able to pull ahead. They closed to 55-54 but that was as close as they would get.
The bottom line is although the Dubs came close to beating a team with mostly already graduated players coached by Cameron Murray and his brother and 1989 Cal-Hi Sports Mr. Basketball State Player of the Year and former Glendora High, UCLA and NBA star Tracy Murray, Bay City made a big impression on the assembled college coaches and analysts.
“Obviously the goal is to win but we played well and the bottom line this is an event for the kids to get exposure,” said Bessolo, who is also the Event Director for both the NCAA Scholastic Viewing high school Boys and Girls California Live tournaments held in Northern California.
"This is about getting our kids exposure to these coaches and analysts,” continued Bessolo pointing to the college coaches and analysts seated in the restricted area.
Longtime California boys basketball analyst Frank Burlison of BurlisonOnBasketball.com, a McDonald’s All-American voter since its beginning in 1977 and member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Hall of Fame, was particularly impressed with Lau, and felt his stock has risen above the mostly small school interest he’s currently receiving.
Lau wasn’t the leading scorer for Bay City but he showed the most complete game after finishing with 14 points (two three-pointers), a team-high seven rebounds for a Dubs team that was outrebounded 44-30, plus four steals and two assists.
With respect to his stock rising, Lau had this to say.
“I think its because I bring a hi IQ and my leadership on the court of my team, talk on defense and get my team together to make sure we win games, and not playing selfishly but as a team,” Lau said. "The second thing is my development as a player. Over the past three years I’ve been growing not just in my body but in my mindset.”
“Coach Randy (Bessolo) has been a big influence on me,” Lau continued. “That’s a big part of the reason I’m growing.”
The leading scorer for Bay City was Lau’s University teammate and incoming 6-1 senior Thomas Meehleib. He connected on four three-pointers and finished with 15 points plus three steals.
Incoming St. Ignatius 6-4 senior Andrew Ennis added six points on two treys, Landers and incoming 6-5 Serra senior Aaron Allens each made one three-pointer and finished with five points apiece.
While most of the Prodigy team was composed of 2025 graduates, the best player on the court was incoming Damien-La Verne senior guard Elijah Smith.
Burlison called Smith “one of the most underrated point guards in Southern California and one of the best point guards Damein head coach Mike LeDuc has ever had,” and that’s saying a lot since LeDuc has been coaching since 1980 and according to the Cal-Hi Sports Online Record Book he is No. 2 all-time in California history with 1,095 career coaching wins. In a bit of a twist LeDuc was Tracy Murray’s coach at Glendora when he as the Mr. Basketball winner.
A Prodigy player that hurt Bay City with his outside shooting was Canyon graduated senior Eric Kubel. He led all scorers with 17 pointers with three-pointers. Another player whose size inside was a factor was 6-7 Workman graduated senior Alejandro Munoz. He finished with nine points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
Even up against older players, out-rebounded, and only making nine three-pointers compared to 10 for Prodigy, the Bay City Warriors survived the big runs and were in a position to win.
Next up for the Dubs is a trip to Las Vegas for the July 17-20 Las Vegas Big Time NCAA Certified Viewing event.
