Tuesday, December 29, 2009

2011 UCLA PG target: Josiah Turner (Sacramento, CA)

video credit: yayarea's finest on youtube


photo courtesy of The Sacramento Bee

Josiah Turner | PG

Hometown Sacramento, CA
Class Junior
High School Sacramento High School Dragons
Height 6'3"
Weight 185 lbs.

Josiah Turner is taking a liking to Los Angeles

After attending UCLA's game against Delaware State, the junior guard who is being recruited by the Bruins scores a career-high 48 points and hits a game-winning shot against Pasadena.

By Eric Sondheimer
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
The Los Angeles Times
December 29, 2009

Josiah Turner, a junior guard from Sacramento, is starting to like Los Angeles. He attended UCLA's game at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday, and he experienced exhilaration on Monday with a career-high 48-point performance in the Oaks Christian tournament that culminated with a game-winning three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to beat Pasadena, 71-70.

"It was fun," Turner said.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland was sitting at the top of the bleachers watching Turner's show. He's recruiting the 6-foot-3 Turner, who has the athleticism and firepower to play at the collegiate level.

The dramatic ending in a quarterfinal game was helped by a strange timeout from Pasadena (6-4). The Bulldogs scored the go-ahead basket on a layup by Tyler Barber with six seconds left to lead, 70-68. Sacramento had no timeouts left, but the Bulldogs called timeout with 3.6 seconds left.

That enabled the Dragons to set up a final play. They in-bounded the ball in the backcourt, got the ball to Turner, who pulled up for the game-winning shot.

"I was surprised," he said of the timeout. "That helped us win the game."

Turner, who came in averaging 28 points, originally committed to Arizona State but has since opened up his recruiting. He said UCLA is near the top of his list.

"I liked the way they got up and down," he said of Sunday's UCLA-Delaware State game.

It was a tough loss for Pasadena because the Bulldogs overcame a double-digit deficit and had five players reach double figures in scoring, led by Barber and Chris Bridges with 15 points each.

Sacramento will play Los Angeles Loyola in a semifinal game Tuesday at 8:30 p.m.

For the rest of this article, click here.

Thanks to puffdaddy for posting the story on the Bruin Zone basketball board.

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