LA VERNE, Ca. – The best high school boys’ basketball team in the west, along with the host school’s unbeaten squad, had narrow escapes Tuesday night to advance to the championships in the Platinum Division of The Classic at Damien.
*Top-ranked Corona Centennial trailed much of the way against a relentless Bellflower St. John Bosco club before going ahead to stay on a nifty penetration and dish by guard Jared McCain that led to a dunk by 6-foot-10, fellow junior Devin Williams with 52 seconds remaining.
McCain (pictured) added four free throws the rest of the way to close out a 62-56 victory that sent the Huskies (10-1) into a 7 o’clock semifinal against Etiwanda – a 52-37 winner over American Fork of Utah in an earlier quarterfinal Tuesday – Wednesday night in Damien’s Athletic Center.
University of New Mexico-bound guard Donovan Dent continued to look a strong candidate for California Player of the Year Tuesday night for Centennial, getting into the lane nearly at will for a game-high 27 points.
*And the host Spartans, despite holding a 10-point advantages at intermission and deep into the third quarter, overcame nearly immediate foul issues and a hard-nosed, and determined Owyhee team from Meridian in Idaho to hang on, 56-53, and improve to 16-0.
Owyhee, which got scintillating performances from Colorado State-bound Jack Payne and superb sophomore Liam Campbell (51 points in his first two games in the event), had an opportunity to send the contest into overtime.
But Payne’s 22-footer, out of well-executed baseline out-of-bounds play, was heavily contested by 6-8 Jimmy Oladokun Jr. and missed at the buzzer.
Seniors Kaleb Smith and Spivey Word split 12 fourth-quarter points for Damien.
The Spartans take on Riverside Poly (15-1; it got a “bye” into the semifinal after it was left with no quarterfinal opponent because of COVID-related withdrawls from the event) in the final Platinum semifinal Wednesday night at 8:30.
The Bears’ only loss (55-52) came in a down-to-the-wire north Orange County tournament championship final on Nov. 20 – against Damien.
The Gold Division’s semifinals will also be played in the Athletic Center.
At 4 o’clock Long Beach Poly (led by senior Christian Watson and freshman Jovani Ruff) plays a Fresno San Joaquin Memorial team paced by Fresno State-bound JoJo Hunter, who scored 26 points in his team’s win over Los Altos and 7-foot Jazz Gardner Tuesday night.
And, at 5:30, it will be a confrontation between unbeatens from Irvine Crean Lutheran (9-0) and San Pedro Rolling Hills Prep (12-), which recorded respective victories over Carmichael Jesuit (63-49) and Ontario Colony (50-43).
Among approximately 30 games scheduled for Wednesday, there were also be championship semifinals in the Diamond and Silver Divisions.
The event is set to wrap up Thursday.
For updated schedule and results, go to www.classicatdamien.org
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