We opted not to attend the game that everyone in town was telling us we just had to attend (the Westchester v. Fairfax game at Fairfax, which turned out to be a 100-64 lopsided win by visiting Westchester, currently ranked No. 4 in the US by USA Today), and instead headed to the middle of the San Fernando Valley, specifically near the intersection of Roscoe and Sepulveda. 

There, tucked away between multi-unit apartment houses, industrial and commercial buildings, car dealerships and notably just across the street from Dr. Hogly-Woggly's Tyler Texas Southern Barbecue, is Montclair College Prep, home to more foreign-born and transfer students than you can shake a stick at....of course we don't have a stick to shake, and besides, there are plenty of kids from the San Fernando Valley who attend the school, but when you talk about basketball and Montclair Prep, at least the past two seasons, the real story is who is coming in from parts unknown.... and there have been plenty, including Blaise Louh (Cameroon), Marko Bozovic and Slobodon Cvijovic (Yugoslavia), the three foreign-born players who were required to play JV last season, to German-born Sebastian Anderle, and countless domestic kids coming and going (e.g., Derrick Daniels, who returned to New York for what would have been his senior season at MCP).

Last night marked the debut of Memphis, TN transfer  Nick Stiggers (6'-8" Jr. F) who recently moved to Van Nuys, and is living at the school's boarding facilities. The reasons for the move are unknown, but the motivation is pretty clear:  To get more exposure to the schools and the region where he will likely play college basketball.  This past fall, it was widely reported that Stiggers, who played for Mats' EBO travel squad with two other recent high-profile transfers (Antonio Lawrence and Dwain Williams, who both wound up at San Joaquin Memorial),  had given a verbal commitment as a junior to USC.   And while Stiggers' former high school coach claimed that the committment wasn't confirmed when we spoke with him back in September, it appears that there is definitely some solid interest from the Trojans, because we spotted USC assistant coach Damon Archibald at the game sitting up in the stands.  And if he saw the same game we did, he must have been a very happy man if there's any truth the rumor that Stiggers will become a Trojan.    Not to demean anyone else who happened to play in this game last night, but it was like watching a man against boys.  And Brentwood is an excellent team... in fact, Brentwood came very close to winning this game, led by double-digits at various points, and had it not been for Stiggers' presence, Brentwood probably would have won, going away.

But with Stiggers in the lineup, Montclair Prep dominated the fourth quarter play just enough to hold off Brentwood.    Montclair struggled in the first half, even with Stiggers in, and it was probably because the rest of the MCP guys just didn't know what Nick could do in a game situation.  In fact, other than Stiggers, MCP struggled in the first half, trailing by 8 at the half, 41-33 (at least that's our recollection) and Stiggers was the lone bright spot, scoring 17 first half points.

We didn't write down stats during the game for Nick (or anyone else), but Brian Rothmuller, aka "BibbyBaby" did, and he also posted a report of Nick's first CIF-SS game, and it's also worth checking out his observations of how Stiggers played.  Brian believes that Stiggers is shorter than he's listed, but we believe he's really about 6'-8", possibly 6'-9" (he was listed at 6'-8" at ABCD Camp this summer), and with all the other really tall MCP players, it's sometimes hard to get a real perspective on just how big a player actually is in comparison.   For the most part, we don't disagree with anything Brian wrote.   But we'll add this:  From our perspective, Stiggers is about as polished and talented as any high school player we've seen in a long time, particular at the Division IV level, ever.... His footwork in the paint reminds us of Amaury Fernandez and his energy around the basket is like that of Jack Martinez (speaking of foreign-born players).....And no, this isn't one of those "breathless mentions" that we read about from local media guys, this is a genuine, rock-solid evaluation of a player with some of the best post moves, some of the best footwork around the basket, and some of the best inside and perimeter shooting we've seen from a high school guy in a long time.  He was putting back rebounds in the paint, knocking down a rainbow three from the top of the key, moving with and without the ball, setting picks and screening for others, and unselfishly passing to his open teammates when he thought they had a better look at the basket than he.  In short, this is a guy who knows how to play the game, and he instantly puts Montclair Prep, a team which has been getting hammered by all kinds of teams during tournament season, on the map, particularly in Division IV-A.   It may very well be that some of the other top teams in the division (e.g., Calvary Chapel Downey or Serra, or Verbum Dei) will have more overall depth when push comes to shove, but they'd better get ready for Nick Stiggers, because this guy is for real.

What happened in the game?   Montclair Prep won a tight game in the last two minutes, and in fact the Mounties   didn't take a lead until the start of the fourth quarter.  Stiggers finished with 36 points, 3 assists, 10 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.  We'd love to tell you what everyone else on his team did, but we didn't get a look at the book, and the Daily News, which is now the only paper which prints SF Valley team boxscores, didn't run one this morning, so we're at a loss there.   Brentwood got some spectacular play from their tough and speedy point guard, Brandon Nishimura (5'-7" Sr. PG) and some overall excellent scoring from guys like Nick Henry (6'-2' Jr. G) and another guy named "Brandon" (didn't catch his last name) and others whose names we also didn't get, but despite playing flawlessly for three quarters, Brentwood just ran out of gas at the end against the bigger and stronger play of Stiggers and the rest of his supporting cast.  

Brentwood is not a team which should be taken lightly by anyone,  and we're ready to defend our ranking of Brentwood as one of the top teams in their division against anyone who says differently.  This is one very tough and well-coached team, athletic, smart and very quick.  And this was actually a great high school game, not the best we've seen this year, but it was a lot of fun to see a close contest among two teams who like to push the ball.

In any event, Stiggers is the real deal, and if you're interested in seeing this young man light it up, Montclair Prep is playing again on Friday night. We're probably going to be at the Mater Dei v. Santa Margarita game, but you can bet that just about every Division IV-A coach with any designs on a CIF-SS title will have someone there with a video camera.... count on it.

 
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