LAGUNA NIGUEL – The third annual Classic at Damien (presented by Mark Christopher Auto Center) highlights the post-Christmas high school basketball tournament action in Southern California, with 64 teams playing in four brackets over four days at four sites.
The top 32 teams will play on the Damien campus in the school’s Athletic Center and Event Center, with all of the Platinum in Athletic Center (largest gymnasium).
Other sites are Ramona Middle School and Bonita High (located very near the Damien campus in La Verne) and San Dimas High and Life Pacific College (also located in San Dimas).
Fifteen programs participating, including 12 in the top (Platinum) bracket, are part of the updated BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25 SoCal ratings.
Among those are No. 2 Rancho Christian (which suffered its first loss Saturday night in Las Vegas against host Bishop Gorman in the Tarkanian Classic); unbeaten and No. 3 Fairfax; No. 5 Corona Centennial (which has lost only to Rancho Christian and top-ranked Sierra Canyon); No. 6 Etiwanda (its only loss came to Centennial); No. 9 St. John Bosco; and No. 10 Damien.
Two non-California programs are participating in the Platinum division, Buckeye from Arizona and Second Baptist from Houston.
Among the noteworthy Wednesday matchups are Etiwanda (the defending Platinum champion) against No. 13 Santa Margarita (4 p.m.) – a rematch of a first-round Southern Section Open Division playoff game last February won by Etiwanda; a “Notre Dame vs. Notre Dame” showdown (2:30 p.m.) with No. 12 Sherman Oaks “Irish” facing the Riverside campus’ No. 16 “Titans”; and Fairfax being tested by No. 17 Rancho Verde (11:30 a.m.).
The 16 seniors among the 64 rosters who have already signed National Letters of Intent with NCAA Division I programs include Jaden Shackelford of Hesperia (he’ll face an elite junior guard Amound Anderson of Leuzinger when their Gold Division teams open competition at 9:30 Wednesday morning in the Event Center).
One of the best scorers in all of high school, Hacienda Heights Los Altos guard Jarod Lucas (averaging 36.8 points per game scoring 52, 50 and more than 40 points in two other games this season), who signed with Oregon State in November.
Lucas and his buddies face Jasper Place (from Edmonton in Canada) at 8 Wednesday night in Silver Division game at Ramona MS.
Los Altos won the Gold Division a year ago by way of a nearly 50-footer at the buzzer to stun Eastvale Roosevelt.
The second- and third-round games will be played on Thursday and Friday, respectively, with each of the four divisional championship games (capped by the Platinum finale at 8:30 p.m.) on Saturday on the Damien campus.
For the complete schedule, go to www.TheClassicatdamien.com.
Among the other tournaments being held in the Southland are Rancho Mirage Holiday Classic (the main site being Rancho Mirage High), the Spot-Up SoCal Christmas Classic (at Burbank and Bishop Montgomery) and Torrey Pines Holiday Classic (main site Torrey Pines).
The Rancho Mirage field includes the No. 8 Mater Dei, along with Phoenix Pinnacle (led by the best point guard in high school hoops, Nico Mannion) and Mayfair (with sensational junior Josh Christopher).
No. 7 Bishop Montgomery shouldn’t have too much difficulty at the Spot-Up.
And, in San Diego County, No. 14 Orange Lutheran and No. 18 St. Augustine hook up in the first round, and No. 11 Harvard-Westlake will also compete against a field that includes non-California programs such as Seattle O’Dea and Phoenix Shadow Mountain.
Here’s the updated BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25:
(With CIF section and record, thru games of Dec. 22)
- Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (Southern Section/12-1)
- Temecula Rancho Christian (SS/10-1)
- Fairfax (L.A. City/10-0)
- Westchester (LAC/9-1)
- Corona Centennial (SS/11-2)
- Etiwanda (SS/11-1)
- Torrance Bishop Montgomery (SS/9-3)
- Santa Ana Mater Dei (SS/11-1)
- Bellflower St. John Bosco (SS/15-1)
- La Verne Damien (SS/10-1)
- Studio City Harvard-Westlake (SS/9-2)
- Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (SS/10-4)
- RSM Santa Margarita (SS/10-3)
- Orange Lutheran (SS/13-3)
- Chino Hills (SS/6-3)
- Riverside Notre Dame (SS/9-4)
- Moreno Valley Rancho Verde (SS/9-3)
- San Diego St. Augustine (San Diego/10-1)
- Loyola (SS/11-4)
- Washington Prep (LAC/8-4)
- Long Beach Poly (SS/8-3)
- Brentwood (SS/12-1)
- Redondo (SS/10-4)
- Woodland Hills Taft (LAC/8-2)
- Riverside Poly (SS/9-4)
New: Brentwood, Redondo
Dropped: Camarillo, El Camino Real
Oh-So-Close: Windward (SS/12-3)
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