LIVERMORE, CA – The Second Annual NorCalSportsTV All NorCal Games at Las Positas College last Sunday was entertaining right from the start with the junior high school boys kicking things off in an 87-80 victory by Blue over Gold.
There were some smaller players that did well and showed the younger kids can shoot the ball, but there were also a few boys 6-2 or taller that showed potential to
The Blue team combined solid outside shooting and superior play in the paint to secure the win. Blue jumped out to a 14-0 lead and despite Gold tying it at 67-67 late in the third quarter, Blue never trailed.
King-Jhsanni Wilhite, a seventh-grader from Aptos Middle School in San Francisco, made his first four 4-point shots, all well from beyond the college arc at Las Positas. He led Blue and finished with a game high 28 points and three assists.
Ronald Jones Jr. added a monster double-double. The 6-4 eighth-grader from Bay Technology School in Oakland had 17 points and 24 rebounds with three assists and three blocks, plus he was 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. He showed an ability to handle the ball, finish around the basket, corral rebounds, and even shoot the mid-range shot.
Wilhite was named the Player of the Game while Jones Jr. was the Defensive Player of the Game, although taking nothing away from the seventh-grader we felt the big kid from Oakland was a better all-around and more dominant player.
Jalen Thompson, a 6-2 eighth-graders from Montera Middle school in Oakland had a double-double 12 points and 12 rebounds, Robel Zemmo, an eighth-grader from Montera, added 18 points, and Keenami Blakney chipped in with 12 points.
A Gold player that turned some heads with his solid play was Modesto Christian 6-2 wing Devin Day. He had 23 points and six rebounds and was 3-of-5 on 3-pointers. Benjamin Roseborough, a 5-10 wing and sixth-grader from John Erhardt School in Elk Grove, was the only other Gold player in double-figure scoring with 11 points.
“I’m only a seventh-grader,” said a smiling Wilhite when asked where he was thinking about going to high school. However, when pressed a bit he might be crossing the Bay in the future since Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland and Salesian-Richmond are his schools of choice.
As for Jones Jr., he would like to attend Moreau Catholic-Hayward or St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda.
