Tri-City Top 40 Camp -- Junior Edition -- Tips Off in Waterloo

Another year, another talented group.

The annual Junior Boys' Tri-City Top 40 Camp is underway at the University of Waterloo, and this year's talent pool is extremely deep.

It's no surprise that five of the top junior programs from this past season -- St. Mary's, Huron Heights, Resurrection, St. Benedict and Brantford Collegiate -- are well represented, with about 15 campers combined representing those schools.

Of course, the talent pool goes much deeper than that.

Here's a quick look at each of the teams; full rosters are below.

Team Wiggins
This guard-heavy group should have no problem scoring the basketball, led by four players that were regular double-digit (and 20+) scorers in the WCSSAA Junior league -- Aman Saleh (GRCI), Tomison Banjoko (WCI), Justice McKenzie (JHSS) and Josh Carere (EDSS).  

Brantford is well represented in this group, led by Aidan Vachon (Brantford CI), Ronan Vezsenyi (SJC) and Tariq Hamed (NPC).

Bradley Stephen of Resurrection, who had a nice performance in a losing effort in the D8 Junior Final, is also on the squad, alongside out-of-town talent Aaron Laranang (Milton) and Kyle Fazekas (Windsor).

Team Lillard
Team Lillard features one of the best junior-aged big-men around, in 6'7" Stefan Djukic from Huron Heights in Kitchener.  He'll be joined by his fellow Husky teammate (and CWOSSA silver-medalist), Riyad Khan.  One of the players who opposed them in that CWOSSA championship game, 6'0" guard Tyshawn Brown from St. Mary's, will join forces with those two this time around.

Kevin Martinez from Lourdes is a 5'9" guard that can fill it up in a hurry -- in fact, he averaged 25+ PPG in the D10 playoffs in helping his 3rd seeded Crusaders to the league championship this past season.

You'd think that would be a solid group, but -- as I mentioned -- the talent pool is deep with this group.  Grade 9 PG Marcus Barnes, who was a terrific performer all season for Cameron Heights, while D5 champion Brantford Collegiate guards Marcus Cohoon and Richard Spencer-Raymond will bring their winning pedigree to camp.

Assumption guards Jabari Ampadu and Nicholas Anthony, along with Alex Naovarath out of Woodstock, round out the squad.

Team Harden
6'4" Guard Trent Johnson is expected to be among the key performers for this group; Johnson played up for St. Benedict this past season at the senior ranks, and was an all-star at the annual Saints Invitational -- scoring 23 points in the championship final against eventual OFSAA Bronze Medalist Cathedral HS of Hamilton.

Johnson will be joined by a couple of D8 Junior stalwarts -- Ryan Weiss (SDCSS) and Aaron Brush (SMHS) -- as well as some notable WCSSAA talent, including 6'5" F Milos Nenadic, SJAM scoring star Tanner Eden, Cameron's Julian Fordyce, and Eastwood's Julian Eichler.

Aiden Davy (CWDHS) and Milton's Mathew Oliver balance out a team that should make some noise during the games this weekend.

Team Murray
6'5" Brock Newton, a grade 10 guard who did not look out of place at all playing up for the CWOSSA champion CWDHS Senior Falcons, headlines a crew that also features some of District 8's top junior talent -- Ethan Izzard and Ozay Davis (SMHS), Shiloh Worthy (RCSS), and Jaxon Butler-Davis (SBCSS).

Team Murray is further strengthened by a strong quartet of WCSSAA guards -- Evan Roth (GRCI), Ron Vishal (HHSS), Theo Dan (SJAM) and Ethan Hamel (KCI); Jackson Wallace, a 6'4" guard from Guelph Centennial -- who had a strong D10 campaign -- rounds out the roster.

Full rosters are as follows:

TEAM WIGGINS– RED -10
#2 Aaron Laranang – 6’0” Guard, Jean Vanier Catholic, Milton, ON
#28 Aidan Vachon – 5’10” Guard, Brantford C.I, Brantford, ON
#34 Kyle Fazekas -  5’10” Guard, St. Annes Catholic, Windsor, ON
#7 Aman Saleh – 6’0” Guard, Grand River C.I, Kitchener, ON
#26 Josh Carere – 6’2” Guard, Elmira District, St. Clements, ON
#32 Justice Mackenzie – 6’0” Guard, Jacob Hespeler HS,  Cambridge, ON
#22 Ronan Vezsenyi – 6’1” Guard, St. Johns College, Brantford, ON
#23 Tariq Hamed – 5’11” Guard, North Park C.I, Brantford, ON
#12 Tomison Banjoko – 6’3” G/F, Waterloo C.I, Waterloo, ON
#10 Bradley Stephen – 6’2” Guard, Resurrection Catholic, Kitchener, ON

TEAM LILLARD – BLUE -10
#17 Alex Naovarath – 6’1” Guard, St. Marys Catholic, Woodstock, ON
#15 Jabari Ampadu – 5’7” Guard, Assumption College, Brantford, ON
#5 Kevin Martinez – 5’9” Guard, Our Lady Lourdes, Guelph, ON
#38 Marcus Barnes – 6’1” Guard, Cameron Heights C.I, Kitchener, ON
#31 Marcus Cahoon – 6’0” Guard,  Brantford C.I, Brantford, ON
#29 Nicholas Anthony – 5’9” Guard, Assumption College, Brantford, ON
#33 Richard Spencer-Raymond -6’1” Guard, Brantford C.I Brantford, ON
#40 Riyad Khan – 6’0” Guard, Huron Heights C.I, Kitchener, ON
#21 Stefan Djukic  - 6’7” Center, Huron Heights C.I, Kitchener, ON
#1 Tyshawn Brown – 6’0” Guard, St. Marys Catholic, Kitchener, ON

TEAM MURRAY– BLACK - 10
#13 Brock Newton – 6’5” Guard, Centre Wellington, Fergus, ON
#24 Ethan Hamel – 6’1” Guard, Kitchener C.I, Kitchener, ON
#11 Ethan Izzard – 6’1” Guard, St. Marys Catholic, Kitchener, ON 
#39 Evan Roth – 6’0” Guard, Grand River C.I, Kitchener, ON  
#35 Jackson Wallace – 6’4” G/F Centennial C.I, Guelph, ON 
#18 Jaxon Butler-Davis – 6’4” St. Benedicts, Cambridge, ON
#4 Ozay Davis – 5’9” Guard, St. Marys Catholic, Kitchener, ON
#20 Ron Vishal  - 6’2” Guard, Huron Heights C.I, Kitchener, ON
#6 Shiloh Worthy – 6’3” Guard, Resurrection Catholic, Kitchener, ON 

TEAM HARDEN– GREY - 10
#9 Aaron Brush – 6’0” Guard, St. Marys Catholic, Kitchener, ON
#3 Aiden Davy- 6’3” G/F Centre Wellington HS, Fergus, ON
#30 Connor Oliver – 6’2” Guard, North Park C.I, Brantford, ON
#14 Julian Eichler – 6’0” Guard, Eastwood C.I, Kitchener, ON
#36 Julian Fordyce – 6’0” Guard, Cameron Heights, Kitchener, ON
#8 Mathew Oliver – 5’10” Guard, Milton District HS, Milton, ON
#19 Milos Nenadic – 6’5” Forward, Cameron Heights, Kitchener, ON
#37 Ryan Weiss – 6’0” Guard, St. Davids Catholic, Waterloo, ON
#25 Tanner Eden – 6’1”Guard, Sir John A MacDonald, Waterloo, ON
#16 Trent Johnson – 6’4” Guard, St. Benedicts, Cambridge, ON