Trigonis Tidbits:

“Dominguez Claims MD Tourney Crown”

(June 20, 2007)

Dominguez (Compton CA) jumped on Mater Dei (Santa Ana CA) early and held off a late Monarch rally to win the Mater Dei tourney 94-88 last weekend.   With two key starters out – recent transfer 6’6’ Jordan Hamilton (playing in NYC with the ICAN All-Stars at Rumble in the Bronx) and 6’7” rising junior Aaron Moore (foot injury) - the Dons displayed both a gritty defense and a well-executed offensive scheme that proved to be a winning formula for coach Russell Otis’ squad.   6’0” rising senior Bryce Cartwright played excellent defense and hit key shots all tourney long while 6’0” rising junior Dominick Lacoste (a recent transfer from Poly/Long Beach CA) looked impressive playing the point and should solidify the Dominguez backcourt.  With the addition of the skilled Hamilton (a legitimate 20-plus ppg scorer) and Moore (an athletic forward who should be a formidable rebounder and defender), the Dons project to be one of the top teams on the West Coast for the upcoming 2007-08 season………………….The Azusa Pacific team camp was held last weekend and the top prospect in attendance was 6’8” rising senior Renaldo Woolridge (Harvard-Westlake/North Hollywood CA).  Woolridge led his Wolverine squd to a perfect 4-0 record which included a 40 point outburst against a young, but talented Villa Park (Villa Park CA) squad.  Woolridge’s rapidly growing body appears to be settling in and his quickness is very improved as well.   Renaldo scored via an assortment of perimeter jump shots, assertive drives to the basket (which resulted in him getting to the FT line often) and numerous thunderous dunks.  Woolridge is attending the NBPA Camp in Charlottesville VA this week.  Villa Park has a talented trio of sophomores: 6’6” Michael Atwater, 6’7’ Clint Bozner and 6’7” Jordan Didier.  Atwater is a long lefty with three-point range, Bozner is a mobile “big” who also can stroke the perimeter jump shot and Didier is an athletic forward who runs the floor well and finishes in transition.  Those three sophs are going to welcome the addition of rising junior 6’0” point guard Jeff Jefferson (a Brethren Christian/Huntington Beach CA transfer) who is a good ballhandler and distributor…………..Another intriguing prospect at Azusa this past weekend was 6’10” rising freshman Kyle “Casey” Caudill (Brea-Olinda/Brea CA).  Caudill is a big body with a soft touch, but needs to improve his quickness and athleticism.  One good thing about being a rising freshman is that one has plenty of time to work on those areas…………….Former Poway (Poway CA) star 6’2” lead guard Todd Lowenthal has transferred from Hawaii to UC Davis.  Lowenthal is a skilled perimeter player who should be an asset for Gary Stewart’s Big West program………….Class of 2007 6’3” lead guard Jelani Diggs was a very late signee with UC-Riverside.  Diggs had played very well this past spring – suiting up for the LA Dream (led by top rising junior 6’10” Renardo Sidney)…………The Nike Hoop Jamboree was held last week in St. Louis MO and just a handful of SoCal natives were on hand including rising juniors 6’7” Hollis Thompson (Loyola/Los Angeles CA) and 6’2” Darius Morris (Windward/Los Angeles CA) and rising sophomores 6’1” Gary Franklin (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA) and 6’5” Tyler Lamb (Colony/Ontario CA)…….……6’4” rising senior Dividas Dulkys (Findlay Prep/Las Vegas NV) is a tremendous shooter hailing from Lithuania who is attracting interest from the likes of Kentucky, UConn, Syracuse, Pepperdine and San Diego State as well as the entire Pac-10 (minus UCLA and USC)……….….One of the West Coast’s top rising senior sleepers is 6’5” Jacob Ranger (Carpinteria/Carpinteria CA).   Ranger is an athletic and strong swingman that is comfortable both on the perimeter as well as down in the paint.  The Santa Barbara-area native is receiving serious interest from the likes of Pacific, UC-Santa Barbara, UC-Davis, Loyola Marymount, Santa Clara, Wofford, Penn, Colgate, Bucknell, Holy Cross, Oregon, Cal State Northridge, San Francisco, Army and San Diego………....Talented 5’10” rising sophomore point guard Derek Brown is transferring from Diamond Ranch (Diamond Bar CA) to Chino Hills (Chino Hills CA).