LA VERNE, Ca – The fourth Classic at Damien (Dec. 26, 27, 28&30), to be held in the Damien High Athletic and Event Centers, as well as on several area campuses, will showcase some of the very best players the Class of 2020 has to offer.
And 10 of the athletes in the five-division, 80-team event signed National Letters of Intent with NCAA-designated programs last in November.
The programs for eight of those players will be competing in the Platinum Division, the toughest post-Christmas tournament division anywhere in the country.
Rancho Christian – which opens play on Dec. 26 at 4 in the afternoon against Dublin – has two of those guys in the country’s best player, 7-footer Evan Mobley (he’s USC-bound, where brother Isaiah Mobley is a freshman and dad Eric Mobley is an assistant to Andy Enfield), as well as Gonzaga-bound guard Dominick Harris.
Evan Mobley was selected the Most Outstanding Player after he and his older brother led the Eagles to the Platinum championship a year ago.
Two-time defending California State Open champion Sierra Canyon – making its Classic at Damien debut – also has a pair of Division I signees in forwards B.J. Boston (Kentucky) and Terren Frank (Texas Christian University).
And Coach Andre Chevalier’s Trailblazers (who have a Dec. 26 event opener against Ribet Academy at 5:30) has another of the country’s elite players from the Class of 2020 in 6-8 Ziaire Williams, a transfer who becomes eligible to play on Dec. 30 due to California transfer rules.
Williams was all-tournament in the Platinum Division a year ago while playing for Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks.
Joining Harris as a future Gonzaga Bulldog is 6-6 Julian Strawther of Henderson (NV) Liberty, who is averaging 41 points per game after scoring 44 in a Dec. 14 loss to Rancho Christian.
Liberty takes on L.A. Windward in a 1 p.m. Platinum opener.
Other players from Platinum participants signing in November were guards Keith Dinwiddie (San Diego State) and Camren Pierce (Cal Poly/SLO), of Fairfax and Etiwanda, respectively, as well as St. John Bosco forward Wynton Brown (Northern Arizona University).
Fairfax plays St. John Bosco in an 11:30 a.m. opener, while Etiwanda takes on Ft. Lauderdale Dillard at 8:30 p.m. in the final game of the first day.
Power forward J.T. Tan, whose Rolling Hills Prep squad plays L.A. King-Drew in an 11 a.m. Gold Division opener in the Event Center, signed with Lehigh last month.
And 6-4 guard Andre Henry (pictured), who signed with UC Irvine, will lead St. Francis against Fresno Central in a Silver Division opener at near-by Ramona Middle School at 11 a.m.
Just a few of the still unsigned/uncommitted 2020 players in the event, along with Ziaire Williams, include Jaylen Clark (who becomes eligible to play for Etiwanda on Dec. 30), point guard Nick Bowden (St. Bernard) and forward Devin Tillis (Windward).
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