Daily Pilot Boys’ Basketball Dream Team: Carter Bryant led Sage Hill to memorable season
Carter Bryant’s ascension in the sport of basketball has happened rapidly.
But there has been hard work in every step of the process for the Sage Hill School junior, who is one of the top recruits in the class of 2024.
He broke his tibia and fractured his growth plate in his left leg when he was undercut going up for a dunk as a freshman. That kept him out for nearly a year; the scar is still displayed prominently under his knee.
Bryant came back as a sophomore. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound wing player showed his obvious potential, but he was on a minutes restriction. Then he transferred from Fountain Valley High to Sage Hill School this past summer, as his father D’Cean Bryant went from coaching the Barons to guiding the Lightning.
That meant a 30-day transfer sit-out period. In that time, the Lightning won just two games. Carter Bryant came back after Christmas for the prestigious the Classic at Damien tournament, but Sage Hill lost all four of its games there.
Carter stayed patient. He said the biggest thing was getting the team to trust the new coaching staff, including his dad and uncle Travon Bryant, a former NBA assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets.
They introduced a hashtag slogan for the Lightning, urging their players to “run toward the storm.” Carter never looked back.
“A third of the guys on our team this year were seniors, so for them to accept a new coach and a new player … that was definitely tough,” he said. “Waiting to play was a hard thing for me, because I’m a competitor, so seeing those [losses] hurt early in the season. But I knew it was for us to be better down the line.”
The season flipped. The Lightning (15-13) won the tough Pacific Coast League in their first year competing in it, then advanced all the way to the CIF Southern Section Division 4A title game before falling 68-57 to Long Beach Jordan.
For his efforts, Carter Bryant is the 2022-23 Daily Pilot Dream Team Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year.
“Obviously it didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but I’m really proud of these dudes,” he said. “When we lost those games early, nobody expected us to make a deep playoff run or anything like that. It was definitely a great experience, especially for these seniors who worked their butt off. They definitely deserved it.”
Bryant has received 29 college offers, and he said his choice is down to two, Arizona and Louisville. Either way he’ll be in red, which is what opponents saw more often than not this year when they played the green-clad Lightning.
He averaged 22.1 points, 13.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.9 blocks and 1.6 steals per game on his way to Pacific Coast League MVP and All-CIF accolades. Bryant was one of just two Orange County boys’ basketball players to earn John R. Wooden Award honors, as the top player in CIF Southern Section Division IV.
Carter would dunk seemingly effortlessly. But he also never shied away from the pressure of the big moment. He had 22 points and 16 rebounds against Jordan. In a close loss at Los Angeles Grant in the first round of the state playoffs, he had 30 points, 24 rebounds and five blocks.
Playing against much bigger schools, Carter also averaged 33.3 points and 18.7 rebounds in three league tournament games.
The stats weren’t what mattered to his father, who played at Lynwood High and four years at Long Beach State. The leadership was important, for a team which also featured emerging junior post player Johnny Mayhew and had several standout seniors like guards Andrew Cobb and Shaan Patel.
“I’d only take him out if he had bad energy,” D’Cean Bryant said. “It’s not about the points. It’s about having energy every night out, blocking shots, getting in the passing lanes, talking to the guys, clapping it up for everybody, making sure guys are engaged. Those things are intangibles that any team would want.”
It’s clear that he’s proud of his son, who is playing at the Nike Hoops Summit in Portland this weekend.
“His mom has done a wonderful job,” D’Cean Bryant said. “We’ve done a great job of co-parenting, making sure he’s getting everything that he’s worked for. People think, ‘oh, he deserves this.’ No, but he’s done a lot of good things for himself to put himself in a position to be recruited as highly as he is. He’s very humble about it, and all of these things are experiences, things you can tell your kids.”
Carter’s mom, Sabrina Torres, has custody of him and his two younger sisters. Cydnee is a freshman at Sage Hill and Carsyn is a seventh-grader.
“I like him,” Torres said of Carter’s personality. “As his mom, I always love him and I don’t have to like him, but I like him a lot. He’s great … I’m excited that I get to support him in obtaining his dreams. I think that, especially in the basketball world, these dreams are big dreams for a lot of kids and not everyone gets to hit them. The fact that he’s absolutely doing that is amazing.”
Yes, Carter is living out his dreams and helping Sage Hill make history. The league title and CIF finals appearance were both just the second in program history, joining the 2019 team.
The much-celebrated Sage Hill girls’ team, which won a state championship last year and competed in the CIF Southern Section Open Division this year, will likely keep making news. Many of the top players on that team were coached by the late basketball star Kobe Bryant through his Mamba Academy. They’re juniors, like Carter Bryant.
Though they’re not related, Carter wears No. 24 like Kobe did. He said he gravitated toward some of the Sage Hill girls’ players early in the year, working out and doing conditioning with them as he adjusted to a new school.
Both genders show that a small school in Newport Coast can do big things in the high school basketball world.
“It definitely shows that Sage Hill is blazing a new path for the next few years and generations of student-athletes,” Carter Bryant said. “This isn’t necessarily an academic school. Obviously, we’re student-athletes first, but this is a place you can come to for athletics. You can be seen here and recruited.”
Here’s a look at the Dream Team Coach of the Year and the first-team and second-team Dream Team selections:
COACH OF THE YEAR
Jeff Berokoff
Pacifica Christian Orange County
Pacifica Christian (27-10) has had a varsity program for seven years, with Berokoff in charge for all of that time. What the Tritons have built in that period is remarkable. With an enrollment of 279, the small school tucked away not far from Hoag Hospital has become an Orange County powerhouse. This year’s team was ranked tops in the county for part of the season and won the San Joaquin League title, its first outright league crown in program history, before advancing to the Division 2AA semifinals and all the way to the state Division II title game in Sacramento. Credit Berokoff for doing this by preaching togetherness, on a team where nobody scored more than 12 points per game.
FIRST TEAM
Parker Strauss
G | Pacifica Christian Orange County | Sr.
Though Pacifica Christian had a balanced scoring attack, it was led by Strauss, who also did many other things well for the Tritons. The San Joaquin League MVP, a 6-foot-4 point guard, averaged team-bests of 11.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. But Berokoff could be as proud that Strauss, who constantly sacrificed his body, finished his two years at Pacifica Christian with a program-record 62 charges taken. His 176 assists, 98 steals and 41 charges taken this year were also program single-season records. Strauss, a repeat first-team Dream Team selection, is bound for Northwestern University.
Dylan Hugues
G | Edison | Sr.
Hugues was a gamer for the Chargers, leading them in scoring at 13 points per game but also finishing second in rebounds and assists per contest. As the leader of a balanced attack, the 6-foot-2 Hugues shared Surf League MVP honors with Los Alamitos sophomore Liam Gray. Hugues scored 11 points in helping the Chargers rally to win at rival Fountain Valley in the league finale, sharing the league title with the Griffins. Edison (20-10) made the second round of the Division 2AA playoffs before losing at Orange Lutheran.
Peyton Guerrero
G | Ocean View | Sr.
Guerrero took another step forward as a senior for the Seahawks, and second-year head coach Steve Harris can be glad he did. Following the graduation of Ramon “Chico” Lopez, the 6-foot-3 Guerrero shouldered the scoring load to the tune of 20.1 points per game, adding team-best totals of 2.9 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He was also co-team leader with 6.5 rebounds per contest. Guerrero shared Golden West League MVP honors with Chris Negrete of Segerstrom and helped Ocean View (16-13) finish second in league and advance to the second round of the Division 3A playoffs before losing to Cerritos.
Adam Gaa
F | Newport Harbor | Sr.
The Sailors’ 6-foot-6 power forward operated more as a modern-day big man, able to physically impose inside but also shoot three-pointers and on-ball screens. He was a valuable piece for coach Bob Torribio’s Sailors (22-9), who won the Wave League with a perfect 6-0 mark and advanced to the Division 3A quarterfinals before falling to North Hollywood Oakwood. Gaa averaged a team-best 13 points and seven rebounds per game, sharing league MVP honors with teammate Isaac Davis.
JJ Gray
F | Fountain Valley | Sr.
Gray scored 19.5 points per game for the Barons, becoming their go-to player after Bryant departed for Sage Hill and Jeremiah Whitmore transferred to Oak Hill Academy. The 6-foot-7 Gray, a very good outside shooter and active on the glass, proved up to the challenge. He was a first-team All-Surf League selection and helped the Barons finish third in the tough league and qualify for the Division 2AA playoffs, where they lost at Simi Valley in the first round. Gray is bound for Oberlin College in Ohio.
EJ Spillman
G| Pacifica Christian Orange County | So.
A dynamic 6-foot-4 combo guard, Spillman looks like he will be a budding star next year for the Tritons. He also did plenty this year as a sophomore, though, with averages of 9.7 points and 2.9 assists per game. Spillman’s block on Orange Lutheran’s Zion Paleo in the closing seconds of the CIF State Southern California Regional Division II championship game helped Pacifica Christian secure a dramatic 52-51 win and advance to its first state title game. He was a second-team All-San Joaquin League selection.
SECOND TEAM
Position, Name, School, Year
F Tucker Tripp, Edison, Sr.
F Alex Stewart, Pacifica Christian Orange County, Jr.
F Johnny Mayhew, Sage Hill, Jr.
G Bodhi Armstrong, Marina, Sr.
G Jaedon Hose-Shea, Estancia, Jr.
G Christian Dasca, Costa Mesa, Sr.
G Ilan Agranovich, Corona del Mar, Sr.
G Isaac Davis, Newport Harbor, Sr.
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