Poly and Alemany in a to-the-wire Fairfax finish

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LOS ANGELES – All in all, I’d consider Day II of the 27^th Nike Fairfax Summer Classic a “bookends” sort-of deal.

Games II&III on Tuesday were – and there is no other way to put this politely – “lopsided” affairs.

But the contests that began – and ended – the second day of competition during the six-day event were nothing short of entertaining.

First up, the games whose outcomes were achieved without much in the way of muss or fuss:

*The host Lions, minus Head Coach Harvey Kitani (he’s working Chris Paul’s camp), rolled past La Canada, 66-49.

Fairfax was also minus 2015 point guard Lindsey Drew (I’m not sure where he was) but looked every bit the part of the squad that should be penciled in at No. 3 (behind L.A. Westchester and Woodland Hills El Camino Real, naturally) in the preseason L.A. City ratings next fall.

The Lions looked like a deeper team than Kitani has had in a while (I also saw them play a couple of times in a recent Santa Ana Mater Dei tournament), with a couple of forceful frontcourt seniors-to-be in Sage Woodruff and Olisaemeka Nwachie likely to end up on the radar of some college coaches.

La Canada has a 6-1 left-hander who could prove to be one of the better jump shooters in the Southern California Class of 2016 in Grant Arthur.

*Mater Dei was missing two key elements (6-5 senior-to-be Mario Soto, still sidelined from a leg injury suffered in the CIF Southern Section title game with Etiwanda in March; and 6-9 sophomore-to-be Michael Cage Jr.) but the rest of this remarkably big, deep and skilled club barely felt a burn in its collective quads while cruising over a short-handed L.A. Brentwood team, 85-41.

Brentwood was minus three likely 2013-14 starters, including one of Southern California better 2014 guards, Tra Holder (committed to Arizona State), sidelined with an ankle injury suffered on the final day of the Pangos All-American Camp a few weeks ago.

Stanley Johnson remains the best scorer and most dominant force in the West’s Class of 2014.

And 6-10 sophomore-to-be Jayce Johnson continues to improve as rapidly as I can eat French Fries when I waif their luscious fragrance.

Now, on to those entertaining-as-heck tilts . . .

*Keisean Lucier-South, a 6-foot-4, 220-pound member of the Class of 2015, tapped in a miss by point guard CJ Hankins to give Orange Lutheran a 62-60 decision over West Hills Chaminade.

KLS is quite the impressive specimen – I found out later, via Greg Biggins of Scout.com, that he is one of the Top 50 football prospects, nationally, in the class and has (as of last weekend; I know this stuff changes from day to day) nine scholarships from high-profile programs.

I’ve seen him list as a tight end, defensive end and linebacker – count me as one of those who thinks he’s well on the path to laying some serious lumber on the next level at any of those slots.

Coach Chris Nordstrom has two other players in that class who are college hoops prospects of note: the aforementioned Hankins and 6-5 wing Rogers Printup, as well as an under-the-radar 2014 forward in 6-6 Anthony Lefeau.

Chaminade was the runner-up (to Bellflower St. John Bosco) in the CIF Southern Section’s 3-A title game last March and Coach Todd Wolfson could have a deeper – and better – club in 2013-14.

He’ll have a potent pair of posts (2014 Jack Williams and 2016 Trevor Stanback) but also a perimeter that will be underrated (at least going into the season).

Justin Eisen (a terrific jump shooter), along with Jordan Ogundiran (another shooter of note) and Mike Oguine (a transfer from Reseda Cleveland who was first-team All-L.A. City last March as a sophomore) each had impressive moments on Tuesday.

And, in the night’s finale . . .

Wow!

Long Beach Poly 72, Mission Hills Alemany 70 . . .

Sophomore-to-be Drew Buggs took a penetration pass from 2015 point guard Ke’jhan Feagin and drilled a 16-footer from the right side to put the Jackrabbits up by point with nine seconds to go.

Then, after another very promising member of the Class of 2016 – 6-7 Daron Henson – missed a shot from the left wing, Buggs rebounded, was fouled and make the first of two free throws with about four seconds remaining.

Six-eight Bennie Boatwright (one of the better jump shooters, anywhere, in the Class of 2015) rebounded the miss on the second attempt and fired a 60-footer that was about five feet short of the rim at the buzzer.

It was as frenetic a game as I’ve watched this month, with pressure defense – Poly’s man pressure took Alemany out of its half-court offense for about three-quarters of the contest and the Warriors’ full-court, zone pressure disrupted over the final 10 minutes or so – dictating the success of both teams.

Feagin – who has made impressive and steady progress, both during last season and in the spring and early summer – made quality decisions with the ball in both open-court and half-court settings, and the seniors-to-be Chris Sullivan (who finished with 19 points) and Kameron Murrell and Artis Parris (17 apiece) helped turn that solid D into quality scoring opportunities for Interim Head Coach Sheldon Diggs’ club.

But, after trailing by as many 12 points with 10 minutes or so to go, the Warriors – led by dynamic and oh-so-speedy 2016 point guard Shacquille Dawkins and that full-court pressure – turned the momentum about as quickly as 5-7 (or so) Dawkins push the ball on the dribble.

The 6-8 Boatwright, who had at least one defender in his grill, daring him to put the ball on the floor, through most of the evening, finally got his jump shot untracked and finished with a team-high 18 points while Dawkins added 17 and another junior-to-be, 6-4 Kevin Summers, checked in with 13.

Placing the victory in an even more impressive context for the Jackrabbits was that they were without one of the better prospects in the Class of 2014 (anywhere) as Kameron Chatman was in attendance at the Nike Deron Williams/Kyrie Irving Skills Academy in New Jersey (as was another player whose team is in this tournament, Parker Jackson-Cartwright of L.A. Loyola).

Wednesday’s second-round competition should be compelling, with Encino Crespi vs. Santa Monica (4 o’clock) and Studio City Harvard-Westlake vs. Compton (5:30) in consolation games, and Woodland Hills El Camino Real vs. Chino Hills (7) and Corona Centennial vs. Loyola (8:30) in championship-bracket contests.

Thursday’s schedule: (consolation) Alemany vs. Chaminade (4 p.m.) and La Canada vs. Brentwood (5:30); (championship) Fairfax vs. Mater Dei (7) and Poly vs. Orange Lutheran (8:30).