LONG BEACH, Ca. – Saturday’s Day I of the second Ron Massey Memorial Fall Hoops Classic featured nine games’ and about 11 ½ hours worth of some mostly terrific Southland high school competition.
And the last four of those played set the table for what could be a spectacular Day II on Sunday at Jordan High.
After five “showcase” games were played Saturday, several of the very best 2015-16 teams in Southern California along with Nevada power Las Vegas Bishop Gorman hooked up in consecutive games of the “tournament” portion of the event.
Chino Hills (90-75 over Redondo Beach Redondo Union), Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (71-70 over Torrance Bishop Montgomery), Bishop Gorman (69-59 against Corona Centennial) and Long Beach Poly (63-60 against Long Beach Poly (63-60 over Santa Ana Mater Dei) won tournament quarterfinals/first-round games on Saturday.
Those games set up some powerhouse match-ups for Sunday at Jordan (6500 Atlantic):
At 9 a.m., Redondo and Bishop Montgomery meet in one consolation semifinal, followed by Mater Dei and Centennial in the other at 10:10.
Each of those four programs played in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs last spring, with Bishop Montgomery winning the title.
The championship semifinals are set for 11:20 a.m., with Chino Hills vs. Sierra Canyon, followed at 12:30 p.m., with Poly vs. Bishop Gorman.
The first three of those programs were also in the Southern Section’s Open Division playoffs in February and March, the same period in which Bishop Gorman’s team was on the road to its fourth consecutive Nevada State championship.
The games for seventh-, fifth- and third-place are scheduled for 1:40, 2:50 and 4 o’clock, respectively, with the championship game scheduled for 5:10.
In the five “showcase games” on Saturday (none of those 10 teams will play on Sunday), Lynwood opened play by knocking off the host Jordan Panthers, 49-38.
That tilt was followed by Orange Lutheran’s 57-50 win over Temecula Rancho Christian, 57-50; Eastvale Roosevelt’s 53-39 decision against Compton; Montebello Cantwell Sacred-Heart’s 55-50 edging of Studio City Harvard Westlake; and Los Angeles Cathedral’s 57-44 toppling of Encino Crespi.
Several of the teams were missing key personnel due to college recruiting trips or injuries.
Crespi (in De’Anthony Melton, who committed to USC last week) and Cathedral (Milan Acquaah, who committed to Washington State during last season) were without Pacific 12 Conference-bound guards.
Redondo (in Leland Green) and Poly (Drew Buggs) were without guards who are visiting the campuses of UTEP and Hawaii, respectively, while Mater Dei’s 6-foot-9 Michael Cage Jr. was in Eugene on a recruiting venture to the University of Oregon.
Uncommitted seniors who did play Saturday and were outstanding included forwards KaVaughn Scott and Zac Jervis (Orange Lutheran); forward Luka Radovic and guard Jacob Davison (both from Cantwell-Sacred Heart); forward Lucas Siewert (Cathedral); and guard Morgan Means (Redondo).
The crowds Sunday were perhaps the biggest I’ve ever watched at a fall prep hoops event in Southern California, with the gym nearly filled (with both sets of bleachers pulled out) for the Redondo-Chino Hills and Bishop Montgomery-Sierra Canyon games.
In the Saturday night finale, Poly – despite trailing by five points late – held on against Mater Dei as junior forward Zafir Williams scored a game-high 20 points and hit a number of key jump shots (including three 3s).
Besides missing Buggs, the Jackrabbits were also without 6-9 junior center Myles Johnson, who is scheduled to undergo surgery after suffering a fractured left kneecap last week.
He said Saturday night he hopes he can recover in time for the start of Moore League action in January.
Gonzaga-bound center Zach Collins and junior wing Charles O’Bannon Jr. were outstanding in Gorman’s impressive wire-to-wire victory over Centennial.
The Sierra Canyon-Bishop Montgomery contest was, perhaps, the most impressive and hard-fought of the day.
Both squads are loaded with major college prospects in their freshmen, sophomore and junior classes, respectively, and Sierra Canyon also a senior point guard in Devearl Ramsey who is set to make a recruiting trip to the University of Pittsburgh next weekend.
Bishop Montgomery, with juniors Ethan Thompson and Jordan Schakel so impressive over much of the game, led by eight points deep into the second half.
But Ramsey and juniors Cody Riley, Ira Lee and Remy Martin made a boatload of big plays at both ends of the floor to help Sierra Canyon rally and then hold off the Knights when Schakel couldn’t covert on a contested shot inside in the late with four seconds to go.
Sierra Canyon’s contest with Chino Hills Sunday could be pitting the two best teams in the Western portion of the United States.
Chino Hills scored the first 14 points in its game with Redondo Saturday before seeing its advantage trimmed to a single field goal with about six minutes to go in the first half.
But the Huskies again spurted to go up 21 points at intermission and were well in control for the rest of the contest.
The Ball Family – UCLA-bound brothers in senior Lonzo, junior LiAngelo and freshman Melo Ball, as well first cousin Andre Ball, a sophomore – accounted for 54 of the Huskies’ points.
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