Fresh out of eighth grade, Aaron Holiday exploded for a spectacular 54 points during his first varsity summer league basketball game. Included were an amazing 28 free throws as he drove the lane throughout the contest and drew numerous fouls.
Even though his
Campbell Hall (North Hollywood, Calif.) team lost a tough 89-80 decision to Simi Valley (Calif.), the 5-foot-10, 180-pound rising freshman guard left his mark.
Longtime Los Angeles Times sports writer Eric Sondheimer told MaxPreps, "I've never seen a freshman get that many points in his first game of the summer. He made a big impact."
Campbell Hall coach Steve Wachs admitted, "I've never seen a performance quite like that. He was attacking the basket, because we were playing a team that was pressing. Most of his shots were at the rim, so his shooting percentage was pretty high. He made excellent judgments. He's very heady and also has a very physical body. We have a pretty balanced team, but were missing some bodies (three starters)."
One of the missing starters was 6-8 senior
Cole Huff, a San Diego State University recruit, who is recovering from a knee injury.
"Once Cole is healthy, he and Aaron will be quite a tandem," Wachs predicted. "Physically speaking, Aaron is a clone of Jrue (his brother, who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers)."
In his next outing, Holiday scored 28 points. Then he had 15 twice in running-time games Saturday before notching 22 on Sunday.
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Adam Woodbury, a 6-11, 225-pound rising senior from East (Sioux City, Iowa), was named MVP at the prestigious NBA Players Association Camp in Charlottesville, Va. He had 20 points to help the Grizzlies nip the Magic, 82-81, for the camp championship. Six-foot-7 rising senior
Amile Jefferson from Friends Central (Wynnewood, Pa.) was the leading scorer with a 20.8 average.
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Dre'Kalo Clayton, a 6-6 rising junior from Evans, and
Adonys Henriquez, a 6-4 rising sophomore from Cornerstone Charter, are transferring to
Orlando Christian Prep (Fla.), according to the Orlando Sentinel. Both are ranked among the state's Top 10 in their respective classes and they will be joining a program that has a 133-19 record and three Class A state titles in the last five years.
* Rising seniors
Matthew Christiansen and
Joe Edmonds have made commitments to the University of San Francisco, according to the Oklahoman. The 6-8, 230-pound Christiansen averaged 14 points and 11 rebounds last year for Bishop McGuinness (Oklahoma City), while the 6-5 Edmonds averaged 14 points, five rebounds and shot 90 percent from the free throw line.
* Former NBA player Rodrick Rhodes has been named head basketball coach at
Cordia (Hazard, Ky.), which has 120 students in grades 9-12. He was an assistant last year at the University of Texas-Pan American.
Rebecca Greenwell of OwensboroCatholic was co-MVP tohelp win the FIBA AmericasUnder-16 title.
Photo courtesy of Ray Zuberer
was named co-MVP with Brazil's Izabella Frederico Sangalli after the USA National Team routed Brazil, 73-40, to win the FIBA Americas Under-16 championship in Merida, Mexico. The 6-1 rising junior from Owensboro Catholic (Ky.) averaged a USA record 15.6 points during the team's five victories.
* New Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown not only is sending his two sons,
Elijah Brown and Cameron, to national power
Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), but he also is sending 5-9 girls star
Nirra Fields to the same school. He now is legal guardian of Fields, a native of Canada who averaged 26.5 points as a junior at Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.).
* Assistant Joe Lentz has been promoted to head coach at
Ben Davis (Indianapolis). Stan Benge, who won 519 games – including a state record 81 in a row - and four state titles, has moved on to an assistant coaching position at Indiana-Purdue of Indianapolis.
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