Friday, April 10, 1998 | 9:21 a.m.
This week's Nike Easter Classic has brought some of the nation's top young basketball players to Las Vegas. But one of the event's brightest stars didn't have to board an airplane or even a bus to get here.
Guard Kevin Gaines, a junior at Clark High School, already has established himself as one of the top returning players in Las Vegas.
But by playing with Los Angeles-based AAU club Sports Express in invitational tournaments like this one, Gaines rapidly is earning a reputation as one of the most coveted young guards in the country.
"He's big-time," said Sports Express coach Miles Gonzales after Gaines led his 17-and-under team to an 84-55 win over ABC Hoops (Calif.) Thursday. "Duke, North Carolina, Syracuse, UCLA -- they're all looking at him. He's going to be able to write his own ticket."
Gaines' relationship with Gonzales began at last summer's prestigious Nike camp in Indianapolis, where Gaines joined 199 of the country's top underclassmen as Las Vegas' lone representative.
Gonzales approached him about the possibility of joining his Sports Express squad. After playing all winter for a Clark team that missed out on the playoffs, Gaines jumped at the chance to join a team of all-stars.
"It's great. I get to run the point all the time and play with a bunch of All-Americans who can finish," Gaines said.
Gaines and his Sports Express teammates played in their first tournament last week, the Boo Williams Classic in Virginia. Despite unfamiliarity with one another, the group advanced all the way to the finals before losing by four points to New York's Riverside Church.
As for Gaines, the 6-5 guard raised the eyebrows of more than a few major college coaches in attendance by outplaying highly-touted Riverside Church point guard Omar Cook to capture the event's MVP award.
"We played six games in three days and Kevin guided us through all the clutch situations," Gonzales said. "He made all the right decisions."
Now, with the addition of Marvin Stone, a 6-10 low post player from Alabama and one of the nation's top-rated juniors, Sports Express should continue to attract attention from coaches and scouts as it makes its run through the Easter Classic.
After that, Gaines and his new teammates will take some time off before regrouping for a tournament in France and the all-important summer slate, which includes a stopover in Las Vegas for the adidas Big-Time Tournament.
Unfortunately for local basketball fans, Gaines might be coming in from out of town for that event. After playing at Clark for the past three seasons, Gaines said he's considering moving back to his native California.
"For now, I'm staying at Clark," Gaines said. "I'd say it's about 75 percent-25 percent that I'm staying."
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