Creme of the County, an annual showcase put on by San Diego-based scout Aaron Burgin to promote and highlight San Diego County's best high school basketball talent, keeps getting better and the 2024 edition was its best yet. While the range of talent varies year to year, the top showcase games are traditionally competitive and close.

Once again, Burgin did a more than solid job of separating the talent to create competitive games. At least five of the 11 games during the one-day event traditionally held over Labor Day weekend came down to the wire. In recent years, the Creme De La Creme game designed for San Diego's finest has come down to the wire. As the event approaches its tenth edition, it will be forever hard to top the ending Mikey Williams (now at Central Florida university after after a well publicized prep career) gave fans at the seventh edition in 2022 when he hit two consecutive 3-pointers, including one from the left corner in the closing seconds, to lift his team to a 118-116 victory.

The ninth edition came close, as the Creme De La Creme contest was an exciting 111-107 come-from-behind victory for the white jersey-wearing club over the black jersey-wearing club. For a while, it looked like the game would be ho-hum, as the Black jerseys jumped out to a 58-44 halftime lead and held a lead as big as 22 points. With the lead hovering around 16 points in the second half, Burgin challenged the White club to get after it and they responded with spirited play.

In particular two players responded well and they are teammates at Montgomery (San Diego), a team that will challenge Carlsbad (Calif.) for San Diego Section supremacy in 2024-25. Xair Mendez, a 6-foot-3 2025 and one of the most underrated point guards in California, and J.J. Sanchez, a 6-foot-5 do-it-all 2025 wing guard who is a matchup nightmare, got cooking and got the White team back in the game with an array of defensive plays, shot-making and timely 3-pointers.

The White team eventually took the lead at 96-95 with 5:55 remaining and the game went down to the wire from that point. With 41.6 seconds remaining, 6-foot-8 2025 Brayden Kyman of Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.)was fouled on a 3-point attempt with his team leading 107-106 and the free throw could have iced the game since it was worth three points. He missed the free throw. That gave the White club an opening and Louis Bond, a 6-foot-5 2025 small forward from Windward (Los Angeles), nailed a go-ahead 3-pointer with twenty-five seconds remaining to give his team a 109-107 lead. Bond then iced the game in the closing seconds by making two free throws to account for the final margin.

Mendez, who finished with nine points and a host of heady plays, and Sanchez, who scored a game-high 20 points and did most of his damage in the second half with 16 points, were name co game MVPs. Bond finished with 10 points, including two 3-pointers.

For the White club, 6-foot-3 2026 shooting guard Caleb Newton of Mission Bay (San Diego) had 11 points, including some highlight finishes. The winning white club also received a huge lift from 6-foot-8 2025 forward Mason Hodges of San Juan Hills (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) with his hustle and motor. He finished with nine points and six rebounds.

Other game standouts included the Black's C.J. Aldrich, a 6-foot-1 2026 guard from Rancho Buena Vista (Vista, Calif.), with 11 points and Dylan Griffin, a 6-foot-4 2025 forward from University City (San Diego), who impressed with his activity level around the rim and finished with six points, seven rebounds, two steals and a block.

Burgin also awards top performers from his underclass games by moving selected prospects up to participate in the Creme De La Creme game. The find of the event and the easiest "call up" for the event was 6-foot-7 2026 wing forward Tim Dorn of Mira Mesa (San Diego). Dorn has touched down in San Diego only recently (as in the past two weeks), as his family was in Hawaii as part of its obligations to the United States Navy.

Dorn is a major sleeper with some high major attributes who could excel at the mid major or mid-major plus level. He runs well, can attack the basket with strides and using his length to score and has good instincts. He finished the top contest with two blocked shots and four rebounds in the second half.

Another terrific call up was from the 2026 Creme Game was Lincoln Grogan, a 6-foot-3 guard who transferred this off-season from Mater Dei (Chula Vista, Calif.) to St. Augustine (San Diego). Grogan proved to be one of the best shooters in San Diego County with a solid all-around game to boot. Grogan nailed eight 3-pointers in the Creme Game for the 2026 class and hit three more triples in the first half of the Creme De La Creme contest for the White club, finishing with 11 points.

The 2028 class in San Diego County is off to a promising start and the 2028 Creme Game was one of the most closely watched. Leading the 2028 calvary was 5-foot-7 guard Columbus Parker of Parker (San Diego), 6-foot-2 point guard Josiah Profit of Temecula Valley (Temecula, Calif.), 6-foot-3 wing Braxton Rolf of Carlsbad (Calif.) 5-foot-10 guard Lucky Davis of Mission Bay (San Diego), 6-foot-7 Tyler Treder of Cal Lutheran (Wildomar, Calif.) and 6-foot-3 Isaiah Hill of San Marcos (Calif.).

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at?[email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter:?@RonMFlores

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Isaac scored 30 points
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