BYU Targets Shine in Holiday Tournaments
BYU's Class of '26 Raised Their National Profile
With the guise of school faded away for the holidays, the nation’s top teams and players travel around the country for warm weather and showcase events. Many BYU targets were able to raise their national profile at these events and these tournaments even saw out-of-state targets face each other.
Cougar on Cougar Crime
Two games featured BYU targets playing each. Junior County’s Wasatch Academy (UT) team defeated Darius Bivins Bishop O’Connell (VA) te
am in the Bahamas 64-52. Dean Rueckert’s Timpview (UT) team defeated Jeremy Jenkin’s Riviera Prep (FL) team 66-64 in Las Vegas.
Dean Rueckert (6’6” Provo, UT, Timpview)
Rueckert’s stock may have risen as much as anyone in the nation as Timpview played at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas the week before Christmas. Rueckert averaged 27 points, 6.25 rebounds and hit 19 threes in four games as the T-Birds went 3-1 against some of the top teams in the nation. Timpview beat Nevada State Champion Bishop Gorman and Florida State Champion Riviera Prep.
Rueckert drew rave reviews for his performance against Tyran Stokes, the number one player in the nation for the class of ‘26. Stokes had 32 and led his team to the victory, but Rueckert matched him basket for basket and finished with 31 points and 6 threes.
Cameron Holmes (6’5” Goodyear, AZ, Millennium)
Cameron Holmes was perhaps on the biggest stage of any BYU prospect as his Millennium High team played in the City of Palms Classic in Fort Meyers, Florida, which has been called the top tournament in the country. Holmes averaged 22.7 points and 8 rebounds in three games. He had a 27 point, 10 rebound performance against the number one team in the nation Montverde Academy. He was able to keep the game close, but Millennium fell by five.
Ikenna Alozie (6’2” Glendale, AZ, Dream City Christian)
Alozie’s Dream City Christian squad also played in the City of Palms Classic, but only played two games in the showcase division. Alozie, who is playing point guard for the first time this year, nearly averaged a triple double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists in his first game and 11 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists in his second game.
A.J. Dybansta (6’9” Brockton, MA, Utah Prep), Anthony Felesi (6’5”, Orem, UT, Utah Prep)
Utah Prep spent Christmas on the islands. They played in Iolani classic the week before Christmas, winning the tournament title with wins over nationally ranked Brewster Academy and Oak Hill Academy.
After Christmas Utah Prep participated in the Grind Session event in Hilo, Hawaii. In their first game Dybantsa had 15 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Felesi added 12 points as Utah Prep won by 42 over Elite Prep.
The next evening Dybantsa had 32 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists. Felesi had 12 points and Utah Prep beat Albuquerque Prep by 40.
Darius Bivins (5’10” Alexandria, VA, Bishop O’Connell)
Bivin’s Bishop O’Connell team played two games in the Bahamas before Christmas and then played four in South Carolina for the Beach Ball Classic. Bivins was the MVP of the Beach Ball classic with an 18 point 6 rebound performance in the finals.
Chamberlain Burgess (6’9” Highland, UT, Orem)
Burgess averaged 18.6 points per game as his Orem High team went to Tennessee to play some of the best teams in the south. Burgess was named to the All-Tournament Team.