LA VERNE, Ca. – Two of Southern Section’s better boys’ high school basketball teams were moved to the left side of the Platinum Bracket by programs from Idaho and Utah Monday during the first day of The Classic at Damien.
They were “upsets” only if you didn’t know much about the Meridian (ID) Owyhee and American Fork (UT) teams before they took to Damien’s Athletic Center floor for their games against Playa del Rey St. Bernard and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, respectively, Monday.
But the squad from Idaho – playing for a school in its first academic year of existence – turned in an overwhelming fourth quarter, coming from four points down with about four minutes to go, and came away with a 66-54 victory over a St. Bernard team that took a 9-2 record, and a major college-bound backcourt, into the opening contest of the division.
And, about five hours later, the American Fork team made the Athletic Center court its own “home away from home” while knocking off a 12-2 Notre Dame team, 70-57.
The victories earn the teams that traveled the longest distance to the event what should be even more significant challenges in Tuesday night’s Platinum championship-side, quarterfinals.
*American Fork takes on Etiwanda (which had to go to the wire to hold off Sacramento Sheldon Monday night, 53-50) at 5:30 (PT).
*And Owyhee takes to the court at 8:30 (in a game set to be televised regionally by KDOC) to face the host Spartans, who cruised past Carmichael (CA) Jesuit Monday night in a “crossover” contest, 80-57, as University of Colorado-bound R.J. Smith and 6-foot-8 junior Jimmy Oladokun scored 19 points apiece despite spending most of the final quarter cheering from the bench for their reserve teammates.
The Classic – which was postponed a year ago due the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, re-scheduled for the spring and then canceled altogether for the 2020-21 season – has been forced into a lot of on-the-fly adjustments because of the latest COVID surge that is rocking our respective existences.
For example, the original 16-team Platinum bracket included teams from Northridge Heritage Christian and Lake Balboa Birmingham and Northern California’s Richmond Salesian and Dublin.
But Salesian was forced to withdraw on Christmas Day and Birmingham on Sunday because of COVID issues.
And, literally a few hours before their scheduled 11:30 game Monday morning, first the Heritage Christian and then, minutes later, Dublin head coaches contacted tournament officials and informed them that suspected COVID infections within their teams meant they wouldn’t be able to play in the event.
That led to the “crossover” (involving squads from different tournament divisions, each with scheduled opponents unable to play) games not only involving Damien but Corona Centennial and Bellflower St. John Bosco of the Platinum Division as well.
Centennial improved to 9-1 as the best high school team in the west – despite playing without University of New Mexico-bound guard Donovan Dent, sidelined with a non-COVID illness – overwhelmed Clovis North, 89-28.
The Huskies – whose only loss, 80-75, came in Texas against the best high school team in the country, Duncanville – will take on St. John Bosco at 7 o’clock Tuesday night.
The Braves (12-2) – originally scheduled to play Salesian – toppled Murietta Valley, 75-52, behind senior center Christian Estrada and freshman guard Elzie Harrington.
In certainly the most compelling and entertaining Platinum game Monday, Riverside Poly improved to 15-1 while holding off West Ranch and its potent duo of junior Andrew Meadow and sophomore James Evans Jr. (with a combined 60 points), 78-77.
The Bears, behind the all-around excellence of freshman Brayden Burries (26 points) and seniors Payden White and Rhode Island-bound Chance Stephens (a combined 46 points), appeared to be in control with a 10-point advantage in the fourth quarter.
But they couldn’t keep the ball out of the hands of Meadow (33 points) and Evans, with Evans’ steal and layup with 19 seconds to go putting their team up by a point.
And Stephens answered with his own layup with 8 seconds to play as the Bears regained the advantage and then prevailed when Meadow couldn’t quite sink a 23-footer as the final buzzer sounded.
With no Dublin or Heritage Christian team available as a second-round opponent, Riverside Poly gets a “bye” into one of the Wednesday night championship semifinals but will play a out-of-bracket “crossover” game with the Gold Division’s Capistrano Valley Christian at 4 o’clock Tuesday.
Also on the Damien campus Tuesday and in the Spartans’ “Event Center”, there are high-level quarterfinals set at 3:30 (maybe the “Game of the Day”, pitting unbeatens Rolling Hills Prep and Colony), 5 (Jesuit vs. another unbeaten, Irvine Crean Lutheran), 6:30 (Fresno San Joaquin Memorial vs. Hacienda Heights Los Altos) and 8 (Long Beach Poly vs. L.A. Fairfax).
Junior 7-footer Jazz Gardner (pictured) scored 18 points as he and his Los Altos teammates held off a second-half surge by Fountain Valley to prevail, 45-42.
Check the www.classicatdamien.org website for updated results and schedules throughout Tuesday.
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