The veterans performed as expected and the freshmen delivered as advertised as the Black team defeated the Orange 77-54 on Wednesday night at the Dam Slam intrasquad game at Gill Coliseum.
Freshman guard Stephen Thompson Jr. scored 18 of his game-high 28 points in the first 10 minutes to pace the victors, who led 40-20 at halftime and were never threatened. He was 5-of-6 from deep, 9 of 14 overall and made all five of his free throws in an impressive debut, albeit one without the pressure and intensity of a counting game.
“It was pretty fun to get out there and play up-and-down,” said Thompson, a MaxPreps All-American and the CIF Southern Section Division IV Player of the Year as a senior at Bishop Montgomery High School in Southern California who was ranked among the top 63 players nationally by Rivals.