Cal Poly-bound Brown helps NorCal beat SoCal in finale

By Tristan Aird

In a sloppy game light on defense but heavy on turnovers, missed dunks and botched lob passes, Justin Brown didn’t quite fit in.

And that’s a good thing for the Cal Poly men’s basketball program.

Brown, who has verbally committed to Cal Poly, brought a more fundamentally sound look to the finale of the 1 Dream All-Star Classic. The 5-foot-11 senior point guard from Salesian High in Richmond scored a clean nine points Sunday to help his Northern California senior all-star team edge its Southern California counterparts 74-71 in Cal Poly’s Mott Gym.

“It’s gonna be home for four years,” Brown said of Cal Poly, which he had not visited since last summer. “It felt good.”

Brown scored four points in the first half and five in the second, going 2 for 2 at the free-throw line in the game. The 189-pound Brown—who committed to Cal Poly over programs such as Santa Clara, Army, Pacific and UC Davis—said he is more likely to play point guard than shooting guard at the college level because of his ability to “penetrate and kick” and “knock down the shot when I need to.”

Brown’s fadeaway 3-pointer from the

corner gave Northern California a 53-42 lead late in the third quarter, but Southern California’s 42-point second half made things interesting.

With the game tied at 71, Chris Jones found William Brew open in the lane for an and-one layup that gave Northern California a 74-71 lead with 6.7 seconds left.

Percy Miller Jr., better known as the rapper Romeo, had a last-second look to tie the game, but his 3-point attempt rimmed out as time expired.

Beverly Hills’ Miller led all scorers with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. But a talent- rich Southern California squad featuring the USCbound Miller and Malik Story (Ribet Academy) along with UNLV-bound Oscar Bellfield (Westchester) struggled to control its turnovers throughout the game.

Morro Bay’s Dylan Royer found out Sunday morning he would play in the finale after competing in the second game of the day for the San Luis Obispo County squad. After scoring 21 points in his first game, he turned around and scored six more in the finale.

Royer said “the fact I felt comfortable playing with the next level in the Southern California game” was something he will remember the event for. Along with fellow late add Randy Hunter of Righetti — who scored seven points — Royer felt the area made its mark.

“I think our area doesn’t get enough credit for what the skill level is,” Royer said. “So the fact that we both played, it will help the area’s reputation for basketball.”

St. Mary’s-bound Colin Chiverton scored 14 points to lead Northern California, which also got 11 points from UCSB-bound James Nunnaly and 10 points from Harvardbound Oliver McNally.

As for Brown, when asked if there were more fadeaway 3- pointers in his Cal Poly future, he smiled and said, “Yeah, for sure.”

“I can’t wait to come down here in the summer and start playing,” Brown added.