The eleventh annual Creme of the County showcased a wide variety of San Diego County's finest players, and a few from beyond its borders. The Creme De La Creme Game for the event's best showed there is plenty of talent coming up the ranks.
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, is entering its second decade and is a staple on the West Region grassroots calendar. The 2026 edition once again featured 11 games, beginning with the 2031 Creme Game for the region's best eighth-graders and concluding with the Creme De La Creme reserved for San Diego's finest players.
With NCAA scholarships at any level much harder to come by than when Burgin first got his event off the ground because of the NCAA transfer portal and recruitment of older overseas talent, the event is more important today than it's ever been. No scout in California is more closely associated with a region of the state than Burgin is with San Diego, which makes fans, players and scouts especially appreciative of his efforts to bring together the best the county has to offer over for one stop basketball shopping over Labor Day weekend.
Last year in the Creme De La Creme contest, the co-MVPs were two players who earned scholarships: Lincoln Grogan of St. Augustine (San Diego), the host school for Burgin's annual event, who is now at Westmont College and Jaden Bailes of JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.), who is now at Seattle University.
That's probably a good omen for this year's MVPs of the Creme De La Creme Game, which the black jersey-wearing club won going away over the white jersey-wearing club, 84-67. The MVP for the victorious club was 5-foot-10 2027 (senior) guard Jerry Stokes of Bonita Vista (Chula Vista, Calif.). Stokes used his explosive drives and competitive approach to set the tone for his team's victory in the second half after it led 36-32 at halftime. Stokes finished with a game-high 18 points and made a clear case to be one of the CIF San Diego Section's two best players along with New Mexico-bound Tavid Lee Johnson of Francis Parker (San Diego, Calif.), who unfortunately wasn't able to play.
Grogan was the ace shooter in last year's event and this year's title of top gun went to 6-foot-5 2027 Brady Berlucchi of La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad, Calif.). Berlucchi was hitting timely shots in the games he played during the day and is particularly deft at corner 3-pointers. He hit three during the top all-star game and finished with a team-high 15 points for the white club to bag team MVP honors.
Other top standouts for the white jerseys was 6-foot-6 2027 wing Jackson McCall, who displayed a terrific all-around game and scored in a variety of ways and also crashed the boards. Scoring nine points and making a positive impact for the white club was 6-foot-1 2027 guard Nico Mott of San Marcos (Calif.).
There were many other standouts on the winning black club, including 5-foot-7 2027 Jaxen Allensworth of Great Oak (Temecula, Calif.), who was the MVP of one of the three 2027 games who was moved up as a result of his fine play. Six-foot-4 Cameron Ackerman of Bonita Vista (Chula Vista, Calif.) also played well in the Creme Game after being the MVP of the third 2027 game. Also playing well for the winning Black was 6-foot-6 2027 wing Lamar Smith of Victory Christian (San Diego, Calif.).
Smith's teammate, 6-foot-5 2028 Brooklyn James, was one of the standouts juniors at the event and made a positive impact in the Creme Game. Other standout 2028s included 6-foot Lucky Davis of Mission Bay (San Diego, Calif.), 6-foot-4 guard Micah Cunningham of JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and 6-foot-8 forward Brandon Sykes of Torrey Pines (Del Mar, Calif.).
Rising seniors come out to support Burgin's event en masse, and even though the reality of the situation is many won't earn a scholarship, the future is bright in the county, if the performances at Saturday's event is any indication.
The event started out with a 2031 (eighth-grade) game and earning MVP honors was 5-foot-10 Bishop Abrams of Madison Middle School (Oceanside, Calif.) and 5-foot-7 Nehemiah Majors of San Diego Global Vision Academy. Also making an impact were two 2032 prospects: 5-foot-8 Erza Singh of Valley Christian Middle School (San Marcos, Calif.) and 5-foot-8 Jackson Wessel of Santa Fe Christian Middle School (Solana Beach, Calif.).
One of the best pull-up shooters in the entire event was 6-foot-2 2029 C.J. Johnson of San Marcos (Calif.). He was penciled in for the Creme Game and excellent in his camp game and solid in the event's top game. Other 2029s to stand out were 6-foot-2 2029 guard Mykel Gray of Mission Bay (San Diego, Calif.) and 6-foot-2 guard Joel Richards-Jones of Christian (El Cajon, Calif.). Gray is a smooth operator while Richards-Jones has a terrific talent level.
Arguably the two best prospects in the event have yet to play a regulation high school game, but it was clear in the 2030 Creme Game their futures are quite bright. Those two ninth-grade standouts (who also played in the Creme De La Creme) were 6-foot-4 Dillon Rice of Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) and 6-foot-1 Malik McClain Brown of Francis Parker (San Diego, Calif.). Rice is a fluid athlete with a terrific first step and good scoring instincts, while McClain Brown has a nice combination of skill and athleticism as a young combo guard.
Yes, Rice is a San Diego native who is off to the San Francisco Bay Area for high school, but with the relationships Burgin has forged over the years with young San Diego ballers, don't be surprised to see Rice down in his hometown for this event over the next three years.
Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
Editor's Pick
BALLISLIFE HYDRO is AVAILABLE NOW!
Ronnie, Did anyone else stand out in that 2030 game or just the people you were TOLD to write about 😂