First Lapwai, then back to Italy

LAPWAI — Before Trevon Allen jets off to Italy next week to begin his second season as a professional basketball player, there was one pit stop the former Idaho star had to make.

The Lapwai product and 2020 UI graduate made an appearance Saturday at the first AJ Miles Memorial basketball tournament, which started Friday and runs through today at the Pi-Nee-Waus Community Center.

The tournament is in remembrance of Aaron David Miles Jr., a Nez Perce tribal member who died in 2019 at the age of 23. The event was scrapped in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and was revived this summer with numerous supporters.

“It’s a huge thing,” said Allen, who played his high school ball at Clarkston. “It’s a great opportunity for us to go out and have fun honoring him. He was like an older brother to a lot of us who are around that same age, and there were times in college where I would think about him over multiple games. It’s the same feeling here, so when I go out there I’m playing for him as well as a lot of other people.”

Allen is representing Team AJ, which features AJ’s younger brother, James, as well as former Lapwai standout and Idaho State junior Emmit Taylor III, and former Pullman and Lewis-Clark State starter Race Martin, who was an assistant coach for the Clarkston boys’ team this year. Also competing with the group were Clarkston graduates Kage and Trey Sobotta.

In an impressive rookie year in Poland with Polpharma Starogard Gdanski, the 23-year-old Allen put up averages of 19.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.3 steals in 29 games, starting all of them. The 6-foot-2 bucket-getter recorded double-digit scoring performances in all but one contest, with a season-high of 33 points Jan. 18 in a 92-81 win against GTK Gliwice.

Now signed with Pallacanestro Cantu of Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) for the 2021-22 season, Allen will dive into the top hoops league in Italy with hopes of continuing his progression as a player, which includes improving as a playmaker with the ball in his hands.

“My biggest thing is being able to sharpen my ballhandling,” he said. “My coach (in Italy) wants to see me play more of an aggressive point guard role. So being able to bring up the ball against tough pressure and get into sets is something I’ve been working on, and also continuing to get stronger. They play a physical style of ball out there. ... So I’ll have to battle to make things happen.”

Allen also said he enjoyed having his first real dose of family time since starting his pro career, and has been working out with his younger brother, Tru, the former Clarkston star who will enter his sophomore season as a point guard for Northwest Nazarene, and their father, Alan Allen, who played football for Idaho in the early 1990s. The two were in attendance Saturday.

Allen will start training camp Aug. 16, with preseason play beginning Aug. 29, and he’ll join the Italian league with former Vandals teammate Victor Sanders, who graduated from UI in 2018 and plays for Dolomiti Energia Trentino. He was an All-LBA honorable mention with per-game numbers of 9.8 points and 1.4 steals.

Sanders sits at No. 2 on the Vandals’ all-time scoring list with 1,804 career points. Allen ranks seventh with 1,395.

“We’ve been in touch,” Allen said. “I’m excited, and I’m sure when we’re not playing we’ll link up and hang out. It’s definitely nice going back to a place like that with some players I know and guys I’ve played with.”

Wiederspohn may be contacted at ewiederspohn@lmtribune.com, (208) 848-2268 or on Twitter @EvannnW.