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| Mikey Williams, big hair, "Border Boyz" jersey, and all, in San Ysidro's game against St. Mary's in the first round of the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic. (Photo by Ed Piper) |
I went to watch the latest basketball phenom.
Mikey Williams, a freshman guard who has already scored 77 points in a game this month (a San Diego CIF record), and his San Ysidro "Border Boyz" teammates (they wore pink uniforms bearing these words) played St. Mary's Catholic of Phoenix on the opening day of the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic Thurs., Dec. 26.
The 6'3" shooter showed a lot of athletic ability. He scored 39 points in a narrow loss. Williams, stocky but a good jumper who had a one-handed jam at one point to delight the enormous crowd, hit some extremely difficult shots in the last two minutes as the Cougars rallied to tie, then lost to a superior team.
Several in the crowd of thousands came specifically to watch the number-one freshman in the nation. How do I know? Even though there were a couple more games to go after San Ysidro's 4:20 p.m. game (it started 13 minutes late), a noticeable portion left immediately after the conclusion.
"How many points did he score? Did he score 39?" I asked out loud to no one in particular as we walked in the rain toward the new Performing Arts Center on the Torrey Pines High campus on the way to the parking lot.
"Yes," someone answered. "But he took 39 shots," commented a man near me derisively. Mikey had taken quite a few shots, including several airballs and other attempts that weren't close.
"He threw that one shot up against the backboard. That was" not good, said a boy who appeared of elementary school age who apparently had come with his dad.
He was referring to a bad choice in the second half, in which Williams, in the middle of the paint with a man between him and the basket, threw the ball up against the glass. Then, he tried to react to the ball to attempt to put it in. But his defender made that impossible.
So Mikey, with the responsive crowd oohing and aahing, somehow got a hand on the carom and drew a foul from the St. Mary's player guarding him.
It looked pretty foolish. A hot dog play with nowhere to go. As Chick Hearn would have said, "The mustard came off the hot dog."
Williams had 20 points at halftime, with the Cougars trailing by four, 43-39. His teammates didn't score any points for long stretches. They applied themselves and were working hard, but they didn't seem appropriately placed in a game on the main court of the prestigious Holiday Classic, a 30-year event viewed as the top high school tournament on the Pacific Coast.
All in all, we got some of what we were looking for. Mikey, with a wild hairdo with tons of hair flopping way up top and the sides of his non-Afro sporting a razor cut, hit some threes from outside. He didn't score 77, but on an off-night piling up 39 points was impressive. I remember the one time I scored 31 points in a high school game, and I was amazed at how many shots it took and how hard it was to reach that level.
He's a young man. He's never had to deal with this kind of attention, so I get that. He's 15 years old. While I was watching pregame warm-ups, standing above the court near the gym entrance, I struck up a conversation with a high school student next to me. "What number is Mikey Williams?" I asked. "Number one," the boy said. "Have you seen him play?" I asked. "He's my cousin," my conversation partner answered. He told me he plays at a different high school, Bonita Vista.
Williams has a nice touch to his shot. He has good rotation. His shooting motion is smooth, not awkward. He made his first few free throws in the game, then he began to misfire.
He had some good, quick drives to the basket. Other moves off the dribble were forced, as all eyes were on him. Not having talented teammates doesn't help take the pressure and the defensive coverage off him. St. Mary's used various defenders on him.
"He could have fouled out in the second quarter," said another man on our rainy walk to our cars after the game. I said, "Yes, the refs let him get away with a lot" on defense, which they did before whistling Williams later in the game for two fouls for pushing, using his hands too much.
With San Ysidro 8-5, their prolific freshman is averaging 33.4 points per game. Another ninth-grader, Jurian Dixon, is second with 19.4 points a game. Third is senior Kailen Rains at 17.5. No other Cougar averages in double figures.
Williams has scored 51, 50, 41, 39, and 37 points in individual games so far. His low output was 10 games in a 12-point loss to Hillcrest Nov. 29. He is shooting 67 percent at the line. There are no stats on his three-point or overall shooting percentages from the field.
Mikey had five steals in a win over San Bernardino, four against El Cajon Valley. His high assist number is 10 against Vincent Memorial, but outside of that 53-point win he hasn't exceeded four assists. He's definitely filling the role of a shooting guard.
Against St. Mary's, he often brought the ball up court. He is quick, with a solid build. He will undoubtedly get more crafty at juking defenders out of position on drives to the basket.
He talked frequently with teammates, even barking out comments while at the free throw line in the early going. Though it had to be a burden on the 15-year-old's shoulders having so many pairs of eyes bearing down on him in the big tournament, he didn't play the aloof, arrogant-appearing star we see sometimes in prep, college, or pro ball. That's a welcome characteristic.
MaxPreps ranks the Cougars first in Division 3, 19th in the CIF San Diego Section, behind University City (17th), ahead of Francis Parker (20th) and Canyon Crest Academy (CCA) (22nd).
