Clifton Powell, Jr., a 6-foot-5 guard who graduated from Village Christian High School in 2015 and spent time a portion of the last year at 22ft Academy in South Carolina, has signed a National Letter of Intent to attend UC Santa Barbara, head basketball coach Bob Williams announced Friday.
Powell, a native of Woodland Hills, Calif., averaged 11.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals per game as a senior at Village Christian. Following the season, he was named All-CIF 1AA. He had a career-high 29 points against Chaminade High School, a career-high 12 rebounds against Campbell Hall High School and a career-high five assists against Providence High School. He made 35% of his three-point baskets.
“Clifton is very athletic and bouncy, and he is a very, very good shooter,” Williams said. “He is along the lines of a Michael Bryson or Alex Harris and like those guys, he could develop into a really good scorer.”
At the outset of 2015-16, Powell attended 22ft Academy in Greenville, S.C., where he averaged 9.6 points per game and made 43.8% of his three-point attempts before injuring his back and returning to Southern California to rehabilitate the injury. Powell is one of five players from his 22ft Academy team to move on to NCAA Division I programs. The others have signed National Letters of Intent to play at Mississippi State, North Carolina State, Tennessee and Louisiana Lafayette.
“Clifton isn’t just a very good player, he’s a really good person,” Williams said. “He’s gotten to know our guys since he came back (to Southern California) in January and he fits with the type of people who we like to have as members of the Gaucho family.”