Twin brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson played basketball together all their lives, and the two former Pine Crest stars led their team to the 2021 Class 4A state title game.
But when the chips were down, Amen had to close the game out himself. Ausar fouled out late in the title game for the Panthers, who held an 11-point lead late in the fourth quarter, and appeared likely to coast to a win. But their opponent, Alachua Santa Fe, rallied to tie the game and send it to overtime.
Not much later, Santa Fe led Pine Crest by eight with 1:04 to play. But Amen led the comeback, scoring eight points in the period’s final 43 seconds. He forced a second overtime, where the Panthers secured the championship. He had 43 points in the title-game victory.
“He was possessed,” then-Panthers coach Ike Smith said. “He refused to let us lose.”
The twin brothers will have to play without each other going forward, as the pair of standouts will most likely be selected by different teams early in Thursday’s NBA draft.
“It was crazy to see Amen do what he did, just show his leadership. And he refused to lose,” Smith said. “Everybody would’ve said, ‘Well the twins can’t play without one another.’ He proved them wrong on that.”
The twins started their high school careers early, making Pine Crest’s varsity team as eighth-graders. Ausar averaged 8.8 points that season, while Amen averaged 7.9 points. Although they were young and not putting up superstar numbers, Smith knew there was a deep well of talent in them.
“They were different,” Smith said. “Being at Pine Crest, I didn’t have a lot of eighth-graders that played varsity. Brandon Knight and Traveon Henry, kids like that. They went on to do real good. But those two, they were just special, man. … They were leaders as eighth graders. They could get to the basket. They handled the ball well.”
“We had Vernon Carey and (Scottie) Barnes in our district at U-School, and they kind of held their own against them. They beat us, don’t get me wrong. … But they held their own as eighth graders. Even Scottie Barnes and Vernon said, ‘Those kids are special.’ ”
By the time they were sophomores, the Thompsons had established themselves as two of Broward County’s top players. Ausar averaged 17.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists, and Amen had 16.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game.
As juniors, they fully came into their own. Ausar averaged 22.6 points per game to Amen’s 20.5. Amen was the superior rebounder, notching 8.4 rebounds per game to Ausar’s 7.2. Amen also averaged one more assist per game (4.4) than Ausar (3.4). After leading Pine Crest to the state title, they were named Broward County small schools co-players of the year.
Instead of returning to Pine Crest for a victory lap in their senior seasons, the twin brothers chose an alternate route. They enlisted with the burgeoning professional league, Overtime Elite. The league offered them a chance to make six figures, but they had to forego their final season of high school basketball and a college career.
“I wasn’t going to get as good as I wanted to (in high school),” Ausar said in 2021.
Instead of being disappointed, Smith said he was happy to see his star players get the chance to improve their game instead of playing with a team that may have struggled the following season (Pine Crest won five games during the 2021-22 season).
“I was happy for them,” Smith said. “People don’t believe me. … I’m about the kids’ future, not holding them to my chest to make me look good.”
The move worked. After posting strong numbers at Overtime Elite, the twin brothers are expected to be picked with two of the top 10 picks on Thursday night.
“I coached Brandon Knight, so I got a chance to see a pro,” Smith said. “I got a chance to see a pro work. I got a chance to see a pro in their progress from his eighth grade year to his senior year to going to Kentucky and doing what he did at Kentucky — took them to the Final Four. … That’s once in a lifetime, that’s what you think. Then here you come with two kids coming behind him that are probably better than Brandon Knight. Both are going to go higher than Brandon Knight in the draft … It’s crazy.”
