Soldiers invade Thunderdome to showcase talented club

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Some of the top high school basketball players in the country took the court at the Thunderdome for the Oakland Soldiers AAU Showcase.

Highlighting the afternoon was the jersey retirement of NBA top prospect AJ Dybantsa. The former Soldier starred at BYU as a freshman this past season.

Last October the club expanded and opened up a Central Coast Soldiers branch led by coach Darnell Campbell.

(AJ Dybantsa (second on the left) shared his journey with the youth players during a Q&A session. Entenza Design).

He also judged a slam dunk contest won by professional dunker Chris Staples over high school player Brevynn Montana. Staples jumped over Dybantsa for his winning slam that received a perfect 10 score across the board.

In the three-point contest final high school player Trevor Dickson edged UCSB senior guard Aidan Mahaney 9-8.

Dybantsa signed some autographs for the young players and fans on his way out of the Thunderdome.