Three boys high school basketball players from San Diego are among the 805 from around the nation who have been nominated for the 2025 McDonald’s All-American Game.

Carlsbad’s Jake Hall, last season’s CIF San Diego Section Player of the Year, leads local nominees. A 6-foot-4 shooting guard, Hall is averaging 29.0 points per game this season and has committed to play collegiately at UC San Diego.

Davaughn Hueitt, a 6-10 player from Mater Dei Catholic, and Steele Canyon point guard are San Diego’s other nominees.

Hueitt averages 19.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.6 blocks a game for Mater Dei Catholic. Thach averages 12.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists for Steele Canyon.

No girls from San Diego were among the 18 from California nominated.

The games will be played April 1 at the Barclays Center, home of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets.

The girls game will be televised by ESPN2, the boys by ESPN.

The final 12-player rosters for the East-West format game will be announced later this month.

Top scorers

Three boys basketball players from San Diego entered the week with more than 2,000 career points.

Hall started the week with 2,640 points, fifth all-time in San Diego behind Troy Leaf (3,318) of Foothills Christian, TJ Leaf (3,020) of Foothills Christian, Tyrone Shelley (2,962) of Christian/Crawford and Chase Budinger (2,934) of La Costa Canyon.

Angel Ochoa of St. Joseph Academy/Victory Christian entered the week with 2,350 points, 11th all-time in the San Diego Section.

JJ Sanchez of Montgomery recently cracked the 2,000-point barrier and entered the week with 2,070 points, 18th all-time in San Diego.

Only 22 players in San Diego history have cracked the 2,000-point barrier.

Pointers’ anniversary

Point Loma High School will celebrate the 40th anniversary of its first of four straight girls basketball state championships on Friday.

The ceremony will take place at halftime of the boys game with Madison in  the Lee Trepanier Gymnasium. The girls play Madison at 6 p.m.

Terri Mann, the star of the four state championships, will be there along with a number of other players from those teams.

In addition, the Pointers will honor coach David Aros.

Basketball showcases

The seventh annual Battle at the Bay basketball showcase is scheduled for Feb. 8 at Mission Bay High School. This year’s event is split into three sessions and features 16 teams.

The morning session matches Helix vs. Scripps Ranch at 9 a.m. and Steele Canyon and Caleb Hatch vs. St. Joseph Academy at 10:30 a.m. The afternoon session pairs Del Norte vs. Christian at 12:30 p.m.; San Diego and Isaiah Marte vs. University City at 2 p.m. and Victory Christian and Ochoa vs. Sage Creek and Elijah Stephens at 3:30 p.m.

The three-game evening session features three games and four Top-10 teams. Mission Bay with Caleb Newton, Pablo Balderas and Clay Grebing plays Mira Mesa at 5:30 p.m. That game will be followed by Carlsbad and Hall vs. Olympian and Tristan Anderson at 7 p.m.

The final game is at 8:30 p.m. with Montgomery and its four All-CIF players JJ Sanchez, Alek Sanchez, Xair Mendez and Devin Hamilton vs. Temecula Rancho Christian.

• The girls basketball Private vs. Public Showcase is set for Saturday at Morse High School. The six-game format features Victory Christian vs. El Camino at 10:30 a.m.; Escondido vs. Granite Hills at noon; Santa Fe Christian vs. Fallbrook at 1:30 p.m.; Imperial vs. Anaheim Canyon at 3 p.m.; Fullerton Rosary Academy vs. Carlsbad at 4:30 p.m. and Francis Parker vs. Lincoln at 6 p.m.

Smith honored

Lincoln quarterback Akili Smith Jr. has been named State Senior of the Year by Cal-Hi Sports.

The Oregon-bound Smith threw for 2,478 yards and 24 touchdowns while rushing for 508 yards and four TDs in leading Lincoln to the State Division 1-AA championship.

The Hornets beat Newbury Park in the Southern California title game.

Newbury Park junior quarterback Brady Smigiel was named Cal-Hi’s Mr. Football. Smigiel threw 49 TDs with just three interceptions.

Lincoln running back Roderick Robinson was Cal-Hi’s Mr. Football in 2022.

Boras Classic

The 13th Boras Classic, one of the top high school baseball tournaments in the country, is set for March 25-28 and includes San Diego teams Carlsbad and Cathedral Catholic.

The 16-team tournament is played at Santa Ana Mater Dei and San Juan Capistrano JSerra.

Cathedral Catholic plays host JSerra at 6 p.m. the first day in a bracket that includes Corona, Gahr, Santa Margarita, Paloma Valley, Pasadena Maranatha and Vista Murrieta.

Carlsbad opens against Cypress in a 3 p.m. game at Mater Dei. That bracket includes host Mater Dei, Ayala, Lake Balboa Birmingham, La Mirada, Huntington Beach and Aquinas.

Bracket winners play March 26 at JSerra, with the winner taking on the Northern California winner in April.

Originally Published: January 23, 2025 at 9:26 AM PST