It’s Out Of State Time For A Number Of Prospect Loaded Teams From Idaho
A few teams with a strong amount of prospects have taken to the road this time of year to play out of state and to help bond as a team by doing so. It is an excellent move for those teams able to pull it off, and success both on and off the court has occurred as a result.
Back in our interview with Vallivue’s Ryan Lundgren, the innovative and young head coach explained a number of reasons why it was important for him to implement out of state trips at this stage in the season. For one, it can bring a team together even more and judging by the play in which some of the teams across the state have been fortunate to matchup against, these out of state jaunts are well worth it.
It was just last week that we experienced the solid play from Post Falls down in Las Vegas at the Tarkanian Classic, in fact, here is some video courtesy of Courtside Films to help jog our memory…
NEW: Idaho Boys Have Serious Game!! Post Falls Highlights In A Win Over Chino Hills! (VIDEO) https://t.co/XtrssoXbG5 pic.twitter.com/nzVNBrQ7LG
— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) December 26, 2017
The trip overall saw Post Falls go 2-2 in the Platinum Division of the tournament. It was a four games in four days stretch at the 16 team tournament, but the team granted tons of exposure and respect from those in attendance and the many that were tracking at home. Post Falls really did impress in Vegas and were led by Jake Pfennigs, our 11th ranked 2018 prospect who stepped up huge for his team during the tournament. His play ultimately landed him with First Team All Tournament honors after tallying 90 points and 49 rebounds total.
Pfennigs and his team will look to use the experience to help keep the team bonding and growing together as the season progresses and this week are playing in the Lake City Holiday Classic for three games.
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For the Genesis Prep Jaguars, a trip down to California has finally arrived and the team started off their trip and tournament play with a bang led by their flat out stud Jonny Hillman (2019), who poured in 24 points and finished the game with the go ahead layup to ultimately win 52-50 over El Cerrito (CA). The Holiday Classic taking place at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego is a real treat for experience and exposure for this group of players and they have lived up to the challenge.
American- Genesis Prep, ID 52 vs El Cerrito 50
High Scorers- GP, Hillman 24 pts, EC Langford 25 pts— The Holiday Classic (@TP_HdayClassic) December 27, 2017
In game 2, Genesis Prep fell to Mater Dei, Chula Vista, but once again received a solid effort from 2019 standout Jonny Hillman who finished with 24 points.
American- Genesis Prep 43 vs Mater Dei, Chula Vista 57
High Scorers- Genesis Prep, Hillman 24 pts
Mater Dei, Riley 19 pts
@GPA_Jaguars— The Holiday Classic (@TP_HdayClassic) December 29, 2017
Genesis Prep will next play on Saturday against Spanish Springs. In all, there are 32 D1 college offered kids, including Shareef O’Neill, Taeshon Cherry, Quentin Grimes. 75 top teams from around the country are at the tournament and Genesis Prep hopes to prove they belong in the conversation with such a talented group. So far they have done so.
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For the previously mentioned Ryan Lundgren and his Vallivue Falcons, their annual trip as a team took them to northern California where they even carved out time to see the reigning NBA champs…
Vallivue Basketball, taking in the World Champion @warriors vs @utahjazz tonight! pic.twitter.com/FaMXtr6kay
— Vallivue Basketball (@Vallivue_Hoops) December 28, 2017
Vallivue opened their trip with an impressive win over Watsonville (CA) 75-41 as the team leaders were Steele Hadlock (2018) in scoring with 23 points, Gabe Childs (2018) in rebounds with 13 and Amoro Lado (2019) in assists with 7. In fact, Lado’s final stat line read 17 points, 8 rebounds 7 assists, 3 steals and 1 block in their 34 points victory.
In their second contest, Vallivue was once again victorious as they moved past Monte Vista 56-48 to earn an appearance in the championship game against Sacred Heart Prep from San Francisco, California. Amoro Lado led all scorers with 17 points and also added 6 dimes in the win over Monte Vista.