Pangos All-Midwest: Fantastic Ending!

The third stop on the Pangos Frosh-Soph fall tour was the Pangos All-Midwest Camp, and it closed in spectacular fashion with two well-played all-star games. The Midwest Camp is known for hard-nosed play and defense was the calling card for camp MOPs Trey Hillerich of Kentucky and Landon Lampley of Indiana.

The talent level of the Pangos All-Midwest Fr/Soph Camp varies from year to year as the talent level in the greater Chicago region has had its up and downs in the last decade. The Windy City will always produce its fair share of talent, but many of the top high school prospects have left the city to finish up their high school careers in recent years. For Pangos Camp director Dinos Trigonis, he expands his horizons to other states and his reach stretches out throughout the Midwest Region. This year’s camp included roughly 180 participants from 12 states, plus Canada, and the crop did not disappoint.

There are a couple of traditions at the All-Midwest Camp that continued this year. One, there will usually be a future NBA player or college standout that doesn’t come in with much candor and isn’t picked for the Cream of the Crop Top 30 Game reserved for the event’s top performers. And this camp is usually known for its grit and defense-oriented play that separates the elite from the pack.

The former likely will happen again and the latter did take place, as defense was the calling card for camp co-Most Outstanding Player Trey Hillerich, a 6-foot-10 2028 (sophomore) power forward from Male (Louisville, Ky.). Hillerich was arguably the best interior defensive player and he also displayed patience and shot making ability on the baseline throughout camp. There was a strong contingent of campers from Louisville and Indianapolis and Hillerich shared co-MOP honors with Landon Lampley, a powerful 6-foot-7 2028 wing forward from Pike (Indianapolis, Ind.).

In the Cream of the Crop Top 30 game, it was only fitting that Hillerich scored the game winning basket on a contested lay-up in sudden death overtime to give his White-jersey wearing club a 77-75 victory over the Black-jersey wearing club. The Black team came in as the favorites in the game because it was the bigger and more physical team at most spots on the floor, but that didn’t deter the white club. The Black club had some terrific team defensive possessions and went up 43-39 at halftime. Its lead eventually grew to 61-52 after an incredible line shift that included 5-foot-9 2029 (freshman) point guard Keiwon Gulley of Bloom (Chicago Heights, Ill.) after the white club tied the game at 50-50.

The white club wasn’t down for long.

The white club got back into the game on the nifty scoring ability of 6-foot-4 2028 Jordan Mitchell of Male (Louisville, Ky.), Hillercih’s high school teammate on what is expected to be one of the better traditional high school teams in the Midwest Region for 2025-26. Mitchell was one of the best scoring guards at camp and hardly ever took a bad shot. He also excelled in the mid-range game and one of his four 3-pointers in the Cream of the Crop Top 30 game cut the white team’s deficit to three points (71-68). It looked like the Black club sealed the game the Gulley made two free throws to make it 75-71 in the final 10 seconds of the game.

The white club wasn’t dead yet.

After a missed front end of a 1-and-1 situation in the closing seconds, 6-foot-7 2029 Elon Henderson of Leo (Chicago) was fouled on the defensive rebound that resulted in a one-and-one situation on the other end of the floor. After a made free throw, he missed the second, but Eron “E.Z.” McDuffey, a 6-foot-3 2028 shooting guard from Ben Davis (Indianapolis, Ind.), came up with an offensive rebound put back and conventional 3-point play to incredibly tie the game at 77-75 with 1.7 seconds remaining, as pandemonium engulfed the gymnasium at DeLa Salle Institute (Chicago).

“I waned to really concentrate on defense and blocking shots, while contributing as much as I can,” Hillerich told Ballislife. “I definitely knew I could come in and win MOP with a good effort. I had a good summer playing with Indiana Elite’s 15s and I felt good about the way I played this summer. Now I need to work on my ball-handling to take my game to the next level.”

Mitchell was named Top 30 game co-MVP along with Gulley. Mitchell was in a groove in the second half, finishing with 21 points., Gulley displayed the best first step of any guard in attendance and was one of the fastest and most explosive, finishing with a team-high 17 points. Gulley was soft-spoken and somewhat shy off the court, but Similar to Hillerich, was confident and ready on the court. There is nothing bashful about Gulley’s game.

“Yes, I felt I played well this summer (with the Mac Irvin Fire 15s) and have been working with my trainer and coaches, too,” Gulley said. “I felt like I played well in this camp and I wanted to help by taking care of the ball and scoring.”

McDuffey finished with eight points for the white club, while Hillerich added eight.

For the black unit, 6-foot-5 2028 Carter Slaise of Providence St. Mel (Chicago) hit two 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. Lampley, who displayed as much vertical pop and power as any forward in attendance, added nine points.

Playing at a level right below or near on par with the camp MOPs was the Black unit’s Joshua Lindsay, a 6-foot-2 power guard from St. Xavier (Louisville), which along with Male and Lampley’s Pike club should be preseason regionally ranked in the FAB 50’s Midwest Preseason Region Top 20.

The participants in the Top 30 game were generally considered the best and most physically advanced of the 180 participants and their play clearly displayed that notion.

Motivation A Difference-Maker 

Instead of picking 30 players for the top all-star game, Trigonis settled on 28 and left two open spots for the most deserving two players to move up from the Cream of the Crop Top 60 Game. That motivating factor has proven to be good strategy when implemented and it paid dividends at De La Salle on Sunday.

The game MVP’s chosen to move up to the top contest after the 74-66 white club victory were McDuffey, who came through with the late game heroics in the Top 30 game for the eventual winning club, and C.J. Pittman, a 6-foot 2028 combo guard from Walter Payton Prep (Chicago). Pittman attends the school of the late Chicago icon who played for the Chicago Bears in the 1970s and 1980s, but it was McDuffey who was “Sweetness” personified in the Top 60 game, netting 15 points. Pittman kept the Black club in range down the stretch, finishing with 10 points.

We talked about players from this camp who one day, looking back, end up one of the better players in attendance and a great candidate for that this year was Top 60 participant Prentiss Gates Jr., a 6-foot-8 2029 forward from Westside Leadership Academy (Gary, Ind.). Gates oozes with potential and doesn’t force the game or do things he currently isn’t capable of. The forwards selected for the Top 30 game were stronger and more physically ready than Gates now, but down the line he could be one of the top players produced from this group. He was credited with six points and two blocked for the White club in the Top 60 game.

There was two eigth-graders selected for the Top 30 game. One was 6-foot-4 wing Chad Carter Jr. of Chi Prep Academy (Chicago) and the other (who was unable to play) was 6-foot-6 Jael Kabeya of Royal Crown (Toronto, Ontario, Canada). Yet another Canadian 2030 prospect was chosen for the Top 60 Game. That was 6-foot-6 Aiden Ouellette of Brampton City Prep (Toronto). The second 2030 prospect selected for the Top 60 Game was 6-foot-6 Jack Huffman of Hillsdale Academy (Hillsdale, Mich.)

He wasn’t selected for an all-star game, but we’d be remiss not to mention the play of seventh grader (2031) Brayden Holland, a 5-foot-10 guard from Grace Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wis.)

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