Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Big scorers on display at Take Flight Challenge

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  REDONDO BEACH, Ca. – Two of the best bucket-getters in all of high school basketball poured in 43 and 36 points, respectively, Friday during the opening of the 6th annual Take Flight Challenge at Redondo Union.

   But although Duke-bound Boogie Ellis (21 points coming in the fourth quarter) and future UCLA Bruin Jaime Jaquez Jr. (16 in the final eight minutes) kept attacking the rim to the final buzzer, their teams came out on the L side of the ledger.

   The 6-foot-3 Ellis was held to two of 11 from the field and five of eight from the free-throw line as San Diego Mission Bay fell behind Long Beach Poly by 20 points at intermission.

   The Jackrabbits, however, had multiple ways of scoring and forced Ellis to toil for every one of the 43 points he produced in the 81-69 defeat.

   Poly, fresh off a tournament championship in Little Rock, Arkansas last week, improved to 12-3 as the Jackrabbits (No. 18 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 25) got a combined 62 points from seniors Justin Rene, Giordan Williams and Malik Salahuddin.

  Rene got 31 of them, 15 by way of shots from behind the arc.

  Williams added 17, two coming on of the two most spectacular dunks of Friday, a transition slam over the top of Ellis.

   Ellis needed 26 “official” field-goal attempts – he hit 11 of them, the first of those his only 3 of the night – and spent a lot of time at the free-throw line (where he hit his final 19 attempts to go 20 of 23) to get his 43.

  The Buccaneers – the 2018 San Diego Open Division champions – fell to 7-6.

  Five of those losses have come to Southern Section programs Rancho Verde (No. 11 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25), Santa Clarita Christian, Rancho Christian (No. 2), Chino Hills (No. 10) and the Jackrabbits.

   No. 15 Santa Margarita improved to 13-5 with its 76-72 victory over No. 25 Camarillo (now 14-3) in the final game of the evening.

   Six-eight Max Agbonkpolo, who missed all four of his team’s games in the Classic at Damien while recovering from mononucleosis, returned to action by 12 scoring of his 30 points in the fourth quarter as the Eagles held on four nights before they open Trinity League play at No. 13 St. John Bosco.

   The USC-bound Agbonkpolo hit 11 of 24 shots from the field (including two 3s) and six of eight free throws to go with 18 rebounds.

   Jaquez had some impressive finishes (including one of the two best dunks of the night, as well as a couple of “And 1s!” with defenders hanging on his shoulder) while hitting 10 of 21 from the field including two 3s.

  Like Ellis, he spent a whole lot of time at the free-throw line where he sank 14 of 20 attempts.

   Another future Bruin, Santa Margarita’s Jake Kyman (pictured, post-game, with Jaquez), scored 19 points (seven of 17 from the field, with two 3s, and three of four free throws), with nine rebounds and eight assists.

  In the first two games played Friday, Liberty (from Henderson in Nevada) cruised past Birmingham, 76-60, as 6-6 junior Julian Strawther scored 29 points.

   Sophomores David Elliott and Corey Cofield II scored 17 and 16 points, respectively, for Birmingham.

  And Westchester (No. 3 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25) improved to 13-1 with its 74-60 win over the host Sea Hawks.

  Fifth-year “senior” Kaelen Allen scored 21 points for the Comets while Jordan Brinson – of the better unsigned guards in the west – added 17.

  Junior Xan Wesley scored 21 for Redondo.

  Eight games will be played at the event on Saturday, beginning with Culver City and Crossroads at 9:30 a.m. and concluding with No. 6 Bishop Montgomery facing Northern California power Sacramento Sheldon at 8:30 p.m.

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