Mission Prep Christmas Classic Full-Recap + Videos + Full Tourney Mix

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The 2009 Mission Prep Christmas Classic held in San Luis Obispo on California's Central Coast took part Dec. 17-22. This year's field wasn't as highly touted as the last couple of years but that can mainly be blamed on our economic standpoint more than anything else. However there was still some good basketball to be seen.

Teams that came out this year in the National Division included:

*hint - click on team to see video highlights

Taft (Woodland Hills)
FW Ballou (Washington DC)
Campbell Hall (Hollywood)
Pasadena (Pasadena)
Cathedral (Los Angeles)
Edison (Fresno)
Sylmar (Los Angeles)
Washington Prep (Los Angeles)

Standout players were:

*hint - click on player to see video highlights

Bryce Jones - Taft (USC)
Deandre Daniels - Taft (Texas)
Pierson Williams - Taft
JB Walker - Washington Prep
Earnest Cooper - Washington Prep
Tyler Barber - Pasadena
Steven Adams - Pasadena
Donte Thomas - FW Ballou
Zalmico Harmon - FW Ballou
Marquis Gentry - FW Ballou
Frankie Eteuadi - Cathedral
Austin McBroom - Campbell Hall
James Johnson - Campbell Hall

The tournament championship featured the top 2 teams in the tournament in a Taft vs Ballou matchup. This was the first time I've seen Ballou play and with that being said the first time I seen Donte Thomas.

Thomas is being looked at by the likes of Georgetown and played phenomenal basketball throughout the tourney. Thomas was calm, composed and didn't rush his shots while getting his teammates involved which carried over into them getting to the championship. In the championship he put up 19 points and nearly willed his team to victory until a missed wide open go ahead dunk by Gentry gave Taft the upper hand.

Bryce Jones of Taft had a very good tournament as well as his teammate Deandre Daniels. Bryce is currently committed to USC but as we all know of the recent news of the USC basketball program that could all change. Daniels is headed to Texas and was the championship game MVP putting up 17 points, 4 rebounds, and 7 blocked shots.

Make sure to check back soon for a tournament highlight mix.

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