BELLFLOWER – There’s plenty of basketball yet to be played before the March 14 California State Open Division championship game is played in Sacramento.
But the Sheldon High Huskies are firmly on the path of staying home and playing in that Open finale for a third year in a row.
That was apparent Monday night, during the last of the nine games played at St. John Bosco High during the Bosco Dream Showcase.
Coach Joey Rollings’ Huskies blasted Josh Christopher and his Mayfair teammates, 91-53.
The Huskies are 15-2 but lost only once when Arizona State-bound forward Marcus Bagley was healthy (a Tarkanian Classic Platinum semifinal with Las Vegas Bishop Gorman).
Bagley, in his fourth game back since being cleared after the several ankle injury he suffered in the Tarkanian third-place win over Mater Dei, didn’t play in the fourth quarter yet finished with a game-high 23 points (including four 3s) to go with nine rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and two steals.
The 6-foot-4 Christopher (likely to be announced as a McDonald’s All-American this week) was defended about as well as possible on the high school level Monday night, limited to 19 points while missing 15 of 20 shots from the floor and hitting nine of 12 free throws and committing seven turnovers.
One of the defenders the Huskies threw at him, 6-2 point-guard Xavion Brown (one of the better as-yet-unsigned-seniors in the west), had several oh-my-goodness dunks among his 13 points that were accompanied by seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and blocked shot.
Is he looking forward to a March 14 pop at a Sierra Canyon program that knocked them off in the 2018 and ’19 title games?
“We’ll be ready,” Brown (pictured) said, smiling.
Three other games Monday featured contenders for spots in the eight-team CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs.
*Windward (18-5) toppled San Gabriel Valley League-leading Lynwood, 68-53.
The Wildcats, who face Sierra Canyon in a Gold Coast League game at Cal State Northridge Thursday night, got a dominant performance from 6-9 sophomore Kijani Wright (21 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots) to go with 12 points, eight points and six assists from UNLV-bound Devin Tillis.
*St. Bernard (16-6), in its second game since senior guard Nick Bowden returned from the ankle injury that he suffered in a Dec. 26 Classic at Damien Platinum Division loss to Richmond Salesian, pulled away down the stretch against one of San Diego’s better teams, Foothills Christian, 66-54.
Bowden hit four 3s while scoring 14 points and was joined in double figures by teammates Damion McDowell (18), Tyler Rolison (13) and Reese Dixon-Waters (12).
*And the host Braves (17-5) – three days after knocking off Mater Dei in a Trinity League game – struggled before edging El Camino Real, 51-45.
Northern Arizona-bound forward Wynton Brown led the Braves with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
In one of the other games, Capistrano Valley improved to 20-1 while rallying from a 12-point deficit and knocking off one of the better teams in the L.A. City Section, Washington Prep, 55-52.
Leave a Reply