LA VERNE – The Rancho Christian High basketball team took care of the last pre-2019 business of its 2018-19 season Saturday night in impression fashion.
The Eagles of Coach Ray Barefield, No. 2 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California Top 25, captured the Platinum championship of the third Classic at Damien using their Mobley Brothers-fueled approach to improve to 14-1 with a no-doubts-about-it, 77-69 decision over No. 5 Corona Centennial.
Junior Evan Mobley turned in his own “no-doubts-about-it” performance in the final night of the top post-Christmas tournament in the West.
He went for 16 points (six of eight from the field and swishes on each of his four free throws), 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals) to easily capture the division’s Most Outstanding Player.
Older brother Isaiah Mobley, who signed a National Letter of Intent with USC last month, went for 17 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a blocked shot as the Eagles built an 11-point edge in the first half that climbed to as much as 16 before Barefield cleared his bench in the final minute.
Coach Josh Giles’ No. 5-ranked Huskies dropped to 14-3 despite the 25- and 23-point performances, respectively, from two of the four juniors in their lineup, Jaylen Clark and D.J. Davis (who dropped five 3s).
Their only other losses came to the Eagles (in the Dec. 1 BattleZone final at Centennial) and at top-ranked Sierra Canyon.
Clark and the Mobley Brothers were key elements of a Compton Magic 17s squad (also including Onyeka Okongwu of Chino Hills and junior Johnny Juzang of Harvard-Westlake) that was the best club team on the national “grassroots” circuit last spring and summer.
And, just to show that kinship doesn’t extend to the court when wearing different uniforms, Clark attacked Evan Mobley off the dribble multiple times in the contest.
And Evan responded in exactly the same fashion one has come to expect out of the No. 1 player in the National Class of 2020 – with a couple of “did he just do that?” blocks, one of which was a clean, hand-to-hand catch of Clark’s dunk try.
Junior Dominick Harris, a transfer from Pacifica Christian in Newport Beach who didn’t become eligible until the Eagles’ tournament opener with Birmingham Wednesday, added 21 points Saturday night in as many shot attempts (finishing 10 of 21 from the field).
Harris, who is committed to signing with Gonzaga next November, knocked in three 3s and finished some nifty drives among those 10 buckets.
And the Eagles’ offensive potency should continue to grow as the 6-foot-3 Harris gets a better handle on the “good shot vs. bad shot” approach and the sounder passing and handling decisions he has to make on the extremely challenging level of competition he’s now competing on.
In the other divisions’ championship games played on the Damien campus Saturday:
*Gold: Valencia got 13 points, 10 points and four assists from all-tourney choice Richard Kawakami, and a combined nine 3-pointers and 40 points from the division’s MOP, Jake Hlywiak, and backcourt mate Nick Jenney (a team-high 22 points) in the come-from-behind, 72-64 win over Alemany.
All-tourney selections Brandon Whitney (25) and Jonathan Daniels (18) combined for 43 points for Alemany.
*Silver: The “Ryans” – Graves and Grande – scored 18 points apiece and combined for seven 3s in La Canada’s wire-to-wire 63-50 decision over Highland of Palmdale.
Graves, a 6-4 senior, was the Silver Most Outstanding Player after also going for seven rebounds and three seasons. Jake George, another senior, scored only three points but had seven rebounds and seven assists to get an all-tourney plaque.
Damien Guest and Justin Hill (who combined for 23 points) were all-tourney for Highland.
*Bronze: Junior guard Laird Anderson, the bracket’s Most Outstanding Player, scored 22 points to propel Mark Keppel’s 55-36 decision against San Marcos of Santa Barbara.
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