Rancho Mirage, Torrey Pines host major BB tourneys

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The “post-Christmas” portion of the high school basketball season, Southern California-style, will feature two of the very best holiday tournaments in the country.

Rancho Mirage High (31001 Rattler Road) will be the main site for the MaxPreps Holiday Classic, with Torrey Pines in San Diego (3710 Del Mar Heights) serving the same duties for the Under Armour/Torrey Pines Holiday Classic, both of which tip on Friday.

The 16-team field in the MaxPreps Open Division includes “traditional” powers Santa Ana Mater Dei and Etiwanda, as well as four other Southern California programs in Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, La Verne Damien, San Juan Capistrano Saddleback Valley Christian and Mission Hills Alemany.

The northern portion of the state is represented by San Jose Archbishop Mitty, Folsom, Hayward Moreau Catholic and Sacramento.

Non-California entries are American Fork of Utah; Issaquah of Washington; Plano Prestonwood Christian Academy of Texas; Milwaukee Rufus King of Wisconsin; Mableton Pebblebrook of Georgia; and Las Palmas de Grand Canaria Oakley of Spain.

Sierra Canyon, led by sophomore center Cody Riley and junior point guard Devearl Ramsey, went 3-1 and won the consolation championship winner at the City of Palms Tournament in Ft. Myers, FL.

Mater Dei, led by senior swingman Rex Pflueger and junior center Michael Cage Jr., won its first game in the event before dropping its next two.

They’re the 1-2 seeds in the Open Division at MaxPreps.

Sierra Canyon draws a tough opening day matchup with Sacramento High (4:45) and its top juniors in 6-foot-7 Solomon Young and 6-5 Christian Terrell.

Mater Dei takes on host school Rancho Mirage (in the auxiliary gym at 3 o’clock then hooks up with American Fork at 9:15 in the main gym.

Another “SoCal-NorCal” matchups Monday finds Etiwanda facing Mitty in the auxiliary gym at 6 o’clock.

There is also a superb 16-team field in the Torrey Pine event’s top (National) division.

The top seeds are Southern California squads Corona Centennial and Redondo Beach Redondo – which, coincidentally, played in a Tarkanian Classic semifinal in Las Vegas on Dec. 19, with Redondo prevailing, 55-54, a day before it knocked off Oklahoma City Putnam City West.

Each of those teams face difficult first-round matchups with other Southern California elite-level programs.

Centennial, led by a backcourt made up of SMU-bound Sedrick Barefield and Cal State Fullerton signee Khalil Ahmad, takes on Montebello Cantwell Sacred-Heart at 12:40 p.m.

Cantwell has college-bound post in Balsa Dragovich (Harvard) and Gligorije Rakocevic (Oregon State).

Those programs met in the first round at the same event a year ago, with Centennial prevailing before going on to lose to L.A. Loyola in the championship game.

Redondo, with two of its numerous underclassmen (junior Leland Green and sophomore Billy Preston) sharing MVP honors in Las Vegas last week, faces Loyola in a 2:15 first-round game Monday.

Loyola senior guard Max Hazzard (UC Irvine) was the Beverly Hills Tournament MVP when the Cubs rallied from nine points down in the fourth quarter to beat Long Beach Poly in the championship game.

The Cubs also have a strong pair of posts in 6-8 senior Stone Gettings (Cornell) and 6-9 junior Henry Welsh (whose brother, Thomas, is a UCLA freshman).

I will be at Rancho Mirage all day Friday and Saturday, and then at Torrey Pines on Monday and possibly Tuesday, as well.

Check my Twitter account – @FrankieB – and www.BurlisonOnBasketball.com for frequent updates and nightly re-caps.