Tark Classic Show moves to Orleans stage Friday

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LAS VEGAS – Four Platinum Division teams will re-locate to a bigger stage – the court inside The Orleans Hotel Arena – for the third Tarkanian Classic semifinals Friday evening.

Three games from within the “Prep Division” begin at 11 a.m. and are highlighted by a 3 o’clock contest featuring two of the elite underclassmen in the country, junior Josh Jackson (Napa, CA, Prolific Prep) and sophomore Jarred Vanderbilt (Houston Victory Prep).

And then the “real” high school action gets underway when Southern California squads Corona Centennial and Redondo Beach Redondo hook up in the first Platinum semifinal at 5, with tournament host Bishop Gorman taking on Putnam City, OK, West at approximately 7 o’clock.

The last of the six games on tap in the hotel’s spiffy arena is another “Prep Division” contest that tips at 9 p.m. and pits Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep – and its cavalcade of future college players from across the country, including Arizona-bound “wing” Allonzo Trier and superb point guard Derryck Thornton from the Class of 2016 – against National Prep from Atlanta (or thereabouts).

All of the competition is back in Bishop Gorman’s two gymnasiums on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m.

Non-championship Platinum and Premier Division contests will be played at the school Friday, as well as the Premier championship semifinals (Lee of Alabama against Bingham of Utah, at 7:10, and Las Vegas vs. Logan of Utah at 8:30).

Games in the third of the high school divisions (Select) will be played Friday at Faith Lutheran High.

*In the first of the Platinum quarterfinals played Thursday at Bishop Gorman, Redondo outlasted Chino Hills in a fast-paced affair, 82-74.

The Sea Hawks (playing with starters from last year, senior Cameron High and junior Cameron Williams, on the bench with injury or ailment) seemed on the verge of pulling away early in the second half with a 12-point advantage.

The Brothers Ball – junior point guard Lonzo and sophomore wing LiAngelo – kept that happening until the last two minutes, however, when Redondo kept beating the Chino Hills pressure for layups and short jumpers, and 5-3 junior point guard Elijah Nesbit kept dribbling through the Huskies’ press, getting fouled and hitting free throws.

Two other Redondo juniors, Leland Green and Morgan Means, scored 22 and 16 points, respectively, while 6-9 sophomore Billy Preston had 15 rebounds and blocked four shots to go along with 12 points.

The younger of the Ball Brothers scored a game-high 33 points despite any very few “clean looks” from his favored spots from behind the arc (he did hit three 3s in the final seven or eight minutes to keep his team within striking distance until the very end).

Lonzo Ball – who, it only seems like, committed to UCLA about five or six years ago – had his usual quota of spectacular passes (13 assists and it would have been 26 if he was suiting up for Redondo and aiming his passes for the likes of Green and Preston), rebounds (15), steals (six) and blocked shots (six).

But Ball, still hampered from an injured lower back suffered in a Southern California tournament in Pasadena two weeks ago, hit just eight of 22 from the field (he was blanked from behind the arc) and missed seven of his nine free throws en route to his 18-point effort, and also committed six turnovers.

Chino Hills continued to play without two projected starters (6-4 sophomore Eli Shelton and 6-8 junior Shane Hopkins) who have yet to see their eligibility cleared by the CIF Southern Section after transferring to the school.

*In the second quarterfinal, Centennial fell behind the Payton Prichard-led defending Oregon state champion, West Linn, 15-4, before using another stalwart effort by SMU-bound point guard Sed Barefield, and constant defensive pressure, to ultimately chop that deficit to a deuce at intermission.

The Huskies, with seniors Khalil Ahmad and Chris Famous taking turns zeroing in on Prichard and Barefield eventually finishing with 30 points, dominated the proceedings after the teams returned for the second half for a almost business-like 65-52 victory.

*The Bishop Gorman Gaels lost in the Platinum championship game (to Santa Ana, CA, Mater Dei) two years ago in the first Tarkanian Classic and to Oakland, CA, Bishop O’Dowd in a semifinal last December.

But, with its potent senior frontcourt of Nick Blair, Chase Jeter and Stephen Zimmerman – with a heaping helping of 6-9 junior Zach Collins coming off the bench – crunching the opposition with equal doses of size, power and skill for the second day in a row, Coach Grant Rice’s team rolled to a 72-59 victory over Aurora Overland.

The 13-point margin is no way indicative of the fashion in which the Gaels thoroughly dominated the team from Colorado.

Held a 21-point edge in the first half (30-9) and 28-point advantage (60-32) with six or seven minutes to go in regulation.

Yes, Coach Rice substituted quite liberally after intermission.

*The semifinal field was set for the division later Thursday night when the team from Oklahoma swarmed a much taller Texas opponent, Plano Prestonwood Christian Academy, 80-60.

The 6-11, 250-pound (give or take in both numbers) duo of senior Djery Baptiste and Schnider Herard pretty much did whatever they wanted to at both ends of the floor the night before in a first-round win over Pasadena, CA, Maranatha.

Despite not having a player taller than 6-5 (Dedrian Palmer), though, Putnam City West was too quick, too aggressive and too relentless for Baptiste and Herard to cope with Thursday night and it was quite apparently from Jump Street that the Dallas suburb of Plano was bound for a fifth-place semifinal (against Overland) Friday night at Bishop Gorman.

Can Palmer, 6-4 Tyson Jolly (the team’s best offensive player) and junior guards Tre Evans and Marquis Johnson created some of that same kind of havoc Friday for a much more skilled and polished frontcourt than the one they dominated Thursday night?

It will be fun watching them try, at least.

In other highlights from Thursday’s action:

*Junior guard Frank Jackson, whose offensive effectiveness was held reasonably in check Wednesday during Lone Peak’s first-round loss to West Linn, went off – in a monstrous way – Thursday in a Platinum consolation quarterfinal game with Las Vegas Clark.

The 6-3 Jackson scored with about as much ease as I’ve tossed down Diet Cokes Wednesday and Thursday en route to an event-record 55 points in the 93-76 win.

*Jackson & Co. will face another of the nation’s very best from the Class of 2016 during a consolation semifinal with El Cajon, CA, Foothills Christian at 1:50 Friday afternoon at Bishop Gorman.

Six-nine T.J. Leaf – who is already committed to the University of Arizona – went for 31 points and 22 rebounds in his team’s win over Philadelphia Constitution Thursday.

*Yet one more dominant junior big guy, 6-7 Yoeli Childs, helped Bingham of Utah advance to the championship semifinals of the Premier Division in its 75-70 win over Durango of Las Vegas Thursday afternoon.

He “helped” to the tune of 32 points, 20 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Childs and his crew next take on the team that is probably favored to win the division, Lee of Alabama, at 7:10 Friday night at Bishop Gorman.

*In a late Thursday consolation quarterfinal in the Premier Division, University of Oregon-bound guard Kendall Small of Lakewood, CA, Mayfair dropped 41 points during a win over Desert Pines of Las Vegas.