BABC teams showcase their talent in style
Arizona commit Sanon nets 44 points
QUINCY >> The Boston Amateur Basketball Club has lofty expectations heading into a new season, looking to add to a trophy case loaded with 26 national championships.
Saturday night at Quincy High, this one started with a bang for its 17u and 16u 3Stripes Select Basketball teams.
Facing all-star rosters made up of many of the best players from MIAA schools, each BABC team recorded blowout victories in showing just how loaded they are.
Vermont Academy star junior Joson Sanon — an Arizona verbal commit — popped off for 44 points against the MA Senior Select Team, leading the 17u team to a 113-60 win alongside 24 points from Putnam Academy’s Oswin Erhunmwunse (Providence verbal commit). The 16u team then saw five players score in double figures to top the MA Underclassmen Select Team, 117-65, for its tuneup before a hopeful run for a national title.
Longtime leader and founder Leo Papile notes that the birthplaces on BABC’s rosters have changed quite a bit, but the program’s approach hasn’t. And seeing the way all four teams played until the very end left a satisfied taste in his mouth heading into the season.
“We’re very pleased,” he said. “Forty-minute games, it didn’t turn into a clown show, which is a real concern. … For us, executionwise, I give us an A. There’s two things we talk about all the time, not wins and losses; effort (and) execution.” Loaded with premier talent that’s played together within the program for a while now, this 17u team could be one of the best ones Papile has ever had. He says Sanon, Erhunmwunse and Putnam Academy teammate Ben Ahmed (2026) each look like future NBA standouts, while Ricardo Nieves is a standout in football as well.
“(Winning a national championship), that’s their challenge,” Papile said. “Clearly, there’s a lot to work with. And the chemistry is really, really good.”
Sanon seems to be at the forefront, especially in Saturday’s action.
The MA Senior Select Team kept up for much of the first half, using a barrage of 3-pointers to rally to a 33-33 tie at one point. Pembroke’s Matt Delcore (10 points) hit a couple, Burlington’s Cedric Rodriguez surged to a quick seven points, and Quincy’s Danny Adams dialed up 15 of his 17 points in his home gym. But Sanon erupted for much of his 25 firsthalf points in the final five minutes before the break by making seemingly every
one of his shots, and he maintained that unstoppable play into the second half to put the game away.
Ahmed (16 points) and Erhunmwunse’s size and athleticism were overpowering as well.
“The goal is to go undefeated, and we’re undefeated,” Sanon said. “Shotmaking (was behind the 44 points), it all starts on defense, though.”
In the loss, scoring 17 against a high-powered team like BABC was fulfilling for Adams.
“Just competing at a high level is just fun for me, and putting on the (Quincy) uniform for the last time is definitely a great experience,” Adams said. “I know I can compete with these guys, getting the chance to do it just shows to everybody else (that I can).”
Burke’s Jaeden Roberts represented Boston well with a game-high 30 points in the next game, though it wasn’t enough to help the MA Underclassmen Select Team to rally past an early lopsided deficit against a well-balanced 16u team.
Size and athleticism from BABC proved too much in this one as well, with Wilbraham & Monson Academy sophomore Sam Fleming (22 points) and Newman School sophomore Collins Chidera Onyejiaka (16 points, 11 rebounds, four blocks) dominating the inside. Chase Geremia (Newman School) made five 3-pointers in a 21-point effort, while contributing toward high-level defense as BABC pressed much of the way.
Amir Jenkins played a big part of that as well with 16 points and four steals.