CULVER CITY, Ca. – The First-ever “Ryse Up Fall Classic”, in honor of the late basketball star Ryse Williams, is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at Culver City High.
Williams, a four-year varsity letterman at Redondo High, died from the effects of an extremely rare form of cancer on June 22 – a day before he and the rest of the Redondo senior class were scheduled to go through graduation ceremonies.
The 6-foot-3 Williams was a two-time all-CIF Southern Section selection and had signed a national letter of intent last November to attend Loyola Marymount University as a member of its basketball program.
Williams was a three-year starter for a program that is just one of six (with Torrance Bishop Montgomery, Santa Ana Mater Dei, Corona Centennial, Chatsworth Sierra Canyon and Chino Hills) that has played in each of the four years of the CIF Open Division playoffs.
New Culver City Coach Reggie Morris Jr. was Williams’ coach for three years at Redondo (he was an assistant at Loyola Marymount in 2016-17) and now-Culver City assistant Vic Martin Sr. was the head coach at Redondo when Williams was a senior.
All proceeds from the 14 games played on Saturday and Sunday will go into an endowment established for Williams’ family. Daily admission is $10.
Redondo (under new head coach Ali Parvaz) – with many of Williams’ teammates – will play twice in the event, Saturday vs. Narbonne) and Sunday vs. Long Beach Millikan.
While at Redondo, Williams played against 11 of the programs (in regular- and post-season competition) that are scheduled to participate in the event honoring his memory this weekend.
Game Schedule at Culver City High
Saturday
11:15 a.m. L.A. Windward vs. Compton;
12:15 p.m., L.A. Fairfax vs. Lakewood Mayfair;
1:15, Culver City vs. Cerritos Gahr;
2:15, Van Nuys vs. L.A. Loyola
3:15, Redondo Beach Redondo vs. Harbor City Narbonne
Sunday
9:15 a.m., Inglewood Morningside vs. Reseda Cleveland;
10:15, L.A. Brentwood vs. Fountain Valley;
11:15, Long Beach Millikan vs. Redondo;
12:15 p.m., Torrance Bishop Montgomery vs. Woodland Hills Taft;
1:15, Culver City vs. Long Beach Poly;
2:15, Studio City Harvard-Westlake vs. L.A. Westchester;
3:15, L.B. Poly vs. Camarillo;
4:15, Lawndale Leuzinger vs. L.A. View Park;
5:15, Gardena Serra vs. Camarillo
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