Johnson stars at Centro Under-17 basketball

Atlanta high schooler London Johnson was one of the big stars at the recent Centro Under-17 Basketball Championships in Mexico.

Johnson helped Jamaica to sixth place with performances that earned him a place on the tournament’s all-star team. Team coach Trevor Poyser says Johnson’s play in Mexico showed his teammates what it takes to get to the next level.

Jamaica lost their opening group game 67-117 to Mexico but rebounded to beat El Salvador 95-78 and then lost to the Dominican Republic 67-103.

That put the Jamaicans in the play-offs for places 5-8. An 81-59 win elevated them to the 5th/6th place contest. That was close but Jamaica lost 76-82 to Panama.

Johnson, a six feet four inches point guard, netted 40 points against Mexico and El Salvador to be the tournament’s leading scorer with an average of 36 points a game. In the El Salvador game, he also had 10 rebounds, eight steals, and six assists.

He also had the most steals per game in the event and was named to the All Centro Under-17 1st team. Like everyone else, coach Poyser was impressed. “He led the team in almost every statistical category,” Poyser said after the last ball had bounced in Mexico.

He thinks Johnson will inspire his local-based teammates.

“I think the locals now see what it takes to get to that next level, what it is that they need to put in, in terms of preparation,” he surmised.

Johnson is being recruited by several US universities who have scouted him at his high school and youth club games. Asked whether the lad would represent Jamaica as a senior, Poyser said: “He’s committed to Jamaica, so we’re hoping that the diaspora and the local entities will look at and see this young man is committed to Jamaica, so we need to give him some support.”

WELL-PREPARED

Poyser believes the team did well given that the local members were unable to play the game for more than a year and half because of COVID-19 restrictions.

“As you know, the overseas players continued their season much earlier this year, including Amateur Athletic Union and school activities, so they were much more prepared than the locals, especially when it came to conditioning,” he explained.

The ring rust translated into 43 turnovers in the Mexico game.

“We were able to deal with that and bring it down to 18 or 19, certainly in Game Three, and when we lost to Dom Rep, it was right back up again to 34 turnovers. So those are things where the boys here, the locals, were having a hard time boxing out, rebounding, positioning, transition on defence and help side defence, and that sort of thing,” Poyser listed.

A post-tournament team meeting ended on a positive note.

“They all came up with the same conclusion: that they themselves have to contribute more to what’s going on,” Poyser revealed.

The tournament was played from December 8 to 12.