The Tenth 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 showcased a wide variety of talent in three different classes.
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, has now been around for a decade and shows no sign of slowing up. The 2025 edition once again featured 11 games, beginning with the 2030 Creme Game for the region’s best eighth-graders and concluding with the Creme De La Creme reserved for San Diego’s finest players.
No scout in California is more closely associated with a region of the state than Burgin, and fans, players and scouts appreciate his efforts to bring together the best San Diego has to offer over Labor Day weekend. Last year in the Creme De La Creme contest, the white jersey-wearing club came from behind to defeat the black jersey-wearing club, 111-107, after some nifty buckets by J.J. Sanchez and Xair Mendez, who led Montgomery (San Diego) to its first ever San Diego Section open division state title during their senior campaigns.
This year, the top game was a nip-and-tuck affair, basically a one-possession contest until the white jerseys broke open the game in the middle of the second half behind the terrific shooting of 6-foot-3 2026 guard Lincoln Grogan of St. Augustine (San Diego), the host school for Burgin’s annual event. By the time Grogan knocked down a couple of 3-pointers and made a coupe of other nifty plays on his line shift, his white team led 82-72 and never looked back. The white jerseys rolled to a 124-109 victory over the black jerseys.
Grogan proved he is one of the best jump shooters in the West Region and finished the game with 12 points, earning co-MVP honors for the victorious club. Another top performer with a 15-point performance for the white jerseys was 6-foot-7 2026 Clay Grebing of Mission Bay (San Diego), a good inside-outside player who knocked down two 3-pointers and added five rebounds. Also netting 15 points for the team was 6-foot-1 2026 Jayden Gray of Victory Christian (Chula Vista, Calif.) along with co-MVP Jaden Bailes, a 6-foot-3 2026 shooting guard from JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
Bailes was in line to be the San Diego Section’s best player and most highly-recruited prospect, but he decided to transfer to Orange County from St. Augustine (San Diego) for his senior campaign and attempt to lead the Lions to a Trinity League title and berth in the CIF Southern Section open playoffs.
Earning MVP honors for the black jerseys was 6-foot-3 2026 Ezekiel Walker of Francis Parker (San Diego), one of the most impressive standouts in any class in any of the 11 contests. Also playing well for the black jerseys was JuJu Lebel, a 6-foot-5 2026 forward from Foothills Christian (El Cajon, Calif.), with 14 points.
Of the other event games, we were most impressed with the 2029 Creme Game for ninth-graders, as the group was unselfish and gave supreme effort. We were impressed with 6-foot-2 2029 Egypt Dean of La Jolla Country Day with his nice finishes, passing and scoring. The MVPs of the contest were 5-foot-10 2029 guard Kamran Shirazi of Francis Parker (San Diego) and 6-foot-3 Romeo Flores of Mission Bay (San Diego). Flores and 6-foot-3 2029 C.J. Johnson of San Marcos (Calif.) was the two 2029’s moved up to the top game.
The two 2028 players moved up to the Creme De La Creme contest were 6-foot-4 2028 Tyler Johnson of Rancho Bernardo (San Diego) and 6-foot-4 2028 Brooklyn James of Monte Vista (Spring Valley, Calif.). Johnson moves well without the ball and is a solid scorer, while James had just about as much upside as any prospect in the 11-game event.
The three 2027 call ups all played well in their respective game while Jeremiah Profit, a 6-foot-5 2027 from Rancho Christian (Temecula, Calif.), was already chosen for the top game and finished with 12 points for the black club.
The calls ups were 6-foot-1 2027 big body guard Kai Jones of Francis Parker (San Diego), 6-foot-2 2027 Chase Othick of Santa Fe Christina (Solana Beach, Calif.) and 6-foot 7 2027 Chayse Miles of Steele Canyon (Spring Valley, Calif.).
The 2030 games also showed some real promise down the line for Burgin’s future events. Keep an eye out for 5-foot-11 2030 guard Kyle “Popeye” O’Connor from Greenfield Middle School who plays his travel ball with the San Diego Soldiers along with 6-foot-2 2030 guard Dillon Rice of Praxis Elite Sports Academy who plays club ball with Relentless.
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
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