Slam-N-Jam Will Feature Top Preps

The Slam-N-Jam Development League will hold its Carson Grand Finale on Wednesday through Saturday with a 16-team tournament at Carson High featuring some of the top high school teams in the area.

Wednesday’s opening-round games are Muir vs. Dominguez at 11 a.m., Santa Clara vs. Oceanside at 12:20, Vista vs. Morningside at 1:40, Cleveland vs. Hawthorne at 3, Lynwood vs. Marina at 4:20, Ocean View vs. Lakewood at 5:40, Carson vs. Rolling Hills at 7 and Long Beach Poly vs. Palos Verdes at 8:20. Teams will be in a pool play format. The championship and consolation games will be played Saturday.

The tournament is a prelude to a national invitational July 17-22 at Cal State Long Beach. The sixth annual Slam-N-Jam Invitational will feature 36 teams from 13 states and some of the top high school players in the country. Basketball junkies will be able to get their fill, with 18 games scheduled daily. On July 22 there will also be dunking and three-point shooting contests as well as the championship game and awards ceremony.

Among the heralded out-of-state players expected to compete are 7-foot-5 Shawn Bradley of Utah, 6-6 guard Anfernee Hardaway of Memphis, 6-6 swing man Donald Ford of Dunbar High near Washington, D.C., 6-8 forward Fred Burley of Oklahoma City and Grant Hill, a 6-7 forward from Ruston, Va., the son of former pro football star Calvin Hill.

California, which will have 12 teams competing, should be represented by many of the Southland’s top players including 6-11 Cherokee Parks of Marina High, Frank Willis from Leuzinger, Shawn Fruge from St. Bernard, Jeff Crowe from Morningside and Nikosi Littleton and Bobby Kelly from Carson.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.