Two months after its conclusion, the 2018 Classic at Damien continues to demonstrate – by many of its entrants – why it was easily the best post-Christmas basketball tournament in the west.
Fourteen of its participants are in Thursday night’s second round of the State Southern Regional playoffs, with 13 of among the 16 teams still in action in Divisions I&II.
Three of the Division I quarterfinals feature “all-Classic matchups”:
No. 8 seed Birmingham (which was winless in four CAD Platinum games but advanced to the semifinals of the L.A. City Open Division and knocked off Harvard-Westlake Tuesday night) at No. 1 Etiwanda (the Platinum CAD consolation winner);
No. 6 Chino Hills (the Southern Section D-I runner-up to Santa Margarita) at No. 3 St. John Bosco;
No. 7 L.A. Washington Prep at No. 2 Rancho Verde (which was fifth in the Platinum Division).
In the other D-I quarter, No. 5 and San Diego Open runner-up Foothills Christian (the only non-CAD team in this field) is at No. 4 Santa Margarita (which was 2-2 in the Platinum Division).
The first three of those games are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m., with the Foothills Christian-Santa Margarita clash going an hour earlier.
There are two “all-CAD” hook-ups in D-II:
No. 6 Rolling Hills Prep at No. Colony (both were in the CAD Gold Division and won Southern Section titles last Saturday); and No. 9 Santa Clarita Christian (CAD Gold) at No. 1 Rancho Cucamonga (CAD Silver).
In the other two quarters in the division, No. 4 Valencia (the CAD Gold champion) is at home to No. 12 and San Diego D-I champion Cathedral Catholic while No. 2 Notre Dame Riverside (which was 2-2 in the CAD Platinum competition) plays host to San Diego’s Santa Fe Christian.
In Division IV, CAD Silver participant Silverado (No. 3 in this division) is at home to San Diego Section D-III San Diego (led by outstanding sophomore guard A.J. Burgin).
There were three CAD veterans in the Southern Regional’s Open Division games Wednesday night, with Rancho Christian (which won the CAD Platinum title) losing at L.A. City runner-up Westchester while – in another “all-CAD” game – Platinum runner-up Centennial edged L.A. City champion (and Platinum third-place squad) Fairfax, 76-75.
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