At the sixth annual Section 7 Team Camp, Arizona’s high school team to beat, Millennium (Goodyear, Ariz.), captured a major division title (Cache AI) for the second consecutive year. Other top divisions were captured by two of the better teams in California, as Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) and Salesian (Richmond, Calif.) go unbeaten in bracket play among 10 divisional winners at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Ariz.
The Section 7 Team Camp is a staple on the NCAA’s June Scholastic Live Period calendar and even though the facility that hosted it changed this year, the results were very similar to past years. Players were evaluated in front of a throng of NCAA college coaches and national scouts and as a result, many standouts saw their recruitment pick up literally in the hours and days following the annual event in The Valley.
The event moved from State Farm Arena in Glendale, Ariz. to the vast Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa., Ariz., but one result remained the same even though Section 7 moved 50 miles East. Millennium (Goodyear, Ariz.) captured a major division title, in the Cache AI Division, with a 68-63 victory over Owyhee (Meridian, Idaho). In 2024, Millennium defeated Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) in a Section 7 title game behind the play of Utah State freshman Kingston Tosi and rising junior Cameron Holmes. This time around, Holmes was part of another 1-2 punch, but the second player wasn’t any sidekick by any means.
Joining the 6-foot-6 rising senior (2026) wing and national Top 25 recruit was 6-foot-4 2028 Adan Diggs, a transfer from Williams Field (Gilbert, Ariz.) and the best of big lot of promising 2028 and 2029 Arizona prospects that had the facility buzzing all weekend long. In fact, Diggs is already one of the nation’s best lead guards, regardless of class, because of poise, ability to separate from defenders and use his size to gain favorable attack position.
Owyhee, which also won a division title in 2024, had a slew of terrific prospects and was in range throughout after trialing at halftime, 36-30. After Holmes scored on a lay-up put back to make the score, 64-57, with 2:50 remaining, Owyhee cut its deficit to 64-62 with 1:47 remaining on a clutch 3-pointer by its best player, 5-foot-11 2026 guard Logan Haustveit. With Owyhee seriously threatening, Diggs put a stamp on his Section 7 performance by working for basket than ended up being a contested, fall-away jumper in the left corner with 1:14 remaining that gave Millennium the breathing room it needed. Holmes then iced the game with a bucket with 12 seconds remaining.
“Cam and Aidan, in my opinion, are the two best players in the state,’ Millennium coach Ty Amundsen told Ballislife. “We didn’t call a play in the last three minutes of the game; we let the players’ talents dictate the outcome and let them make winning plays.”
Holmes, who finished with 26 points and seven rebounds, was among the top five senior (2026) performers at an event that included 160 teams from 11 states and approximately 200 surefire D1 prospects. Diggs finished with 22 points, including two first half 3-pointers. When he is ready to choose, he’ll virtually have his choice of any P5 conference school to choose from.
Millennium, which defeated CIF Southern section power Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) in the semifinals, 64-54, also got fine contributions throughout the event from 6-foot-4 2027 wing guard D.J. Spencer, a transfer from Desert Vista (Phoenix, Ariz.), and 6-foot 2027 point guard Adrian Higuera.
To say Haustveit had a big weekend would be an understatement. He displayed terrific leadership qualities, court vision and a knack for the big play. He finished the title game with 27 points, including 5-of-8 from 3-point range, and only missed three total shots from the field.
Notre Dame Triumphs In All-SoCal Clash
Some of the elites off the West Region teams that participated in Section 7 did not participate because of USA Basketball commitments. For the team at Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.), it participated without the services of the nation’s No. 1 prospect in the 2026 class, Tyran Stokes.
No Stokes, no problem for Notre Dame.
If Diggs wasn’t the top point guard in the event, then it was 6-foot-2 2027 NaVorro Bowman Jr. of Notre Dame. The Blue Knights rode his serpentine ability and confidence to capture the Huettner Division with a 74-61 victory over a deep and talented team from Santa Margarita (Calif.). The Eagles led Notre Dame at halftime, 40-38, after taking a 28-21 lead. Bowman and 6-foot-6 2026 forward Zach White kept the Blue Knights in the game, as the duo had accounted for all but one basket of Notre Dame’s first half total.
The Bowman-White duo kept it up early in the second half, but down the stretch others stepped up offensively to help put away Santa Margarita. The big contributions were made by 6-foot-1 2026 guard Caleb Ogbu, a cagy veteran, and 6-foot-5 2027 forward Ilan Nikolov, a transfer from Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) . Ogbu scored eight points in the second half, including a big 3-pointer to give Notre Dame a 65-58 lead. Nikolov then gave the Blue Knights some major cushion with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 68-60 with 2:41 remaining in the game.
Ultimately the difference was the scoring ability of Bowman off the dribble, and the relentlessness and leadership of White, who is developing into a P5 recruit because of his ability to affect winning in a variety of ways while improving his scoring prowess. Bowman had the tightest handle (by a wide margin) of any guard in attendance and the best lay-up package that included finishes with incredible English off the glass. White finished the game with 28 points and nine rebounds while Bowman scored 34 points.
“As a starter for four years, I’ve learned from the guys who came before me such as Lino (Mark) how to step up and lead the way,” White said. “I have to step up and be more of a leader on offense. I still have a ways to go to be satisfied of where my game is at.”
Santa Margarita had three big guns throughout the June Live period event and they all scored in double-figures in the championship game loss. Kaiden Bailey, a 6-foot-3 2026 scoring point guard who was recently named co-MOP at the Pangos All-American Camp, scored 16 points, as did 6-foot-9 2026 power forward Drew Anderson, a stock-riser this spring and summer. Adding 12 points was Brayden Kyman, a 6-foot-8 2026 forward already committed to Washington St.
Notre Dame defeated always-tough Centennial (Corona, Calif.) in its Saturday semifinal, while Santa Margarita downed Etiwanda (Calif.) in its semifinal contest.
Salesian Depth A Difference-Maker
Elias Obenyah may not be on the level of Stokes as far as recruitment level, but the 6-foot-5 2026 guard is racking up scholarship offers as are many of the names listed above, especially Bowman and Diggs. Like Stokes, he’s also important to the fortunes of the team, Salesian (Richmond, Calif.), and he was unable to play after giving it a go in The Pride’s first Friday contest.
Without Obenyah the final three games, it was a next-man-up mentality for Salesian and it’s been that way for 27 seasons under coach Bill Mellis, who has won 668 games since taking over the program in 1999. Salesian, an annual contender for the CIF NorCal open title, looks like a major state championship contender once again in 2025-26 after it used that signature depth to down a talented team at The Villages (Fla.) in the AIA Division title game, 63-55.
Some scouts and college coaches felt The Villages was the best team it saw heading in Sunday’s championship contests, and it certainly was an impressive team and the AIA (which stands for the Arizona Interscholastic Association) title game was the most intense and well-played of the major divisions of Section 7. The game was close but the Pride scored the final six points and outscored The Villages, 12-4, to close out the game after it was tied 51-51 with 2:50 remaining in the contest. The big spark for Salesian was a 4-point play off a pin-down by 5-foot-10 2026 point guard Isaiah Davis with 2:05 remaining.
“Coach said were going to run one of our go-to plays,” said Davis, who was one of eight players to score for Salesian and finished with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. “Coach told us this is a special group, and having a chance to win a state title is not just some pipe dream.”
So far, so good.
The Villages, which defeated Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.) 70-58 in its semifinal contest, didn’t go down without a fight, as talented 6-foot 2027 point guard Aaron Britt Jr. scored on a nifty-lay-up to cut his team’s deficit to 57-55 with 1:45 remaining, but the Floridians didn’t score again. Six-foot 2027 guard Asante Johnson then nailed two free throws for Salesian with 1:15 remaining and a nifty Davis dish to Carlton Perrilliat for a lay-up with 30 seconds remaining sealed matters.
Britt finished with 11 points, while 6-foot-6 2026 forward Herly Brutus used his strong downhill driving attack to net 18 points. The Villages’ most impressive player over the weekend was 6-foot-7 2027 wing Jomar Bernard, a fluid athlete who can shoot and handle well for his size. Bernard had it cooking in the first half with four 3-pointers and 14 points, but only make one field goals after intermission.
Top to bottom on a team that had every eligible player contribute, the 6-foot-5 2026 Perrilliat was Salesian’s top performer. The strong wing forward scored on a last-second junk shot around the rim to defeat Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.), 59-57, in the semifinals and went for 11 points in the final, including 10 in the second half. Ron Selleaze, a 6-foot-2 2027 guard, also played well throughout the event, utilizing his activity level, nice moves off the bounce and good shot fakes to net eight points in the title game. Leon Powe Jr., a 6-foot-5 2026 forward whose father was a 2003 McDonald’s All-American and a 2008 NBA champ with the Boston Celtics, hit three 3-pointers for the Pride to finish with nine points.
Johnson nailed all six of his free throws and scored 13 points, while Salesian also got a bit lift from 6-foot-3 2027 Elijah Stanley and 6-foot-6 2026 forward Jahlil Lindsey throughout the weekend. Lindsey, like Perrilliat a Grid-Hoop stud, was a total find for Salesian, as he didn’t contribute much to the team last year but makes a big impact with his physical nature and strong left-handed finishes while playing hellacious defense on the perimeter. Unlike Perrilliat, whose future is clearly on the grid-iron, Lindsey would like to pursue hoops on the next level.
Section 7 is built for a player like Lindsey to get discovered and guarding the ball and playing defense like Salesian does is how teams can use a team-first approach and winning to help individuals get scholarships looks. In a day-and-age where high school players going D1 is becoming quite difficult because of the landscape of NCAA basketball, winning helps.
Luckily for these three terrific championship teams, it will have another opportunity to win games and have its players impress college coaches at Cali Live ’25 in Orange County, Calif., during the NCAA’s second June Scholastic live period weekend, June 27-29. A vast majority of the top teams that participated in Arizona will look to impress college coaches this upcoming wekeend in SoCal.
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
