LAS VEGAS – The Gold Division will provide the opponents in the first two of the four Tarkanian Classic semifinals that will be played Monday afternoon and evening in the Orleans Hotel Arena.
On Saturday in Bishop Gorman’s auxiliary gymnasium, South Jordan (UT) Bingham (with its 67-63 win over Oakland Bishop O’Dowd in double overtime) and Irvine (CA) Crean Lutheran (by way of its 67-41 toppling of Baton Rouge Liberty Magnet), set the field for the first Gold Division semifinal at 3 o’clock on Monday.
The second (4:30) semi opponents will be Fresno San Joaquin Memorial (which edged JSerra of South Orange County in Southern California, 59-56, in one of the event’s most competitive and well-played games) vs. Plano (TX) John Paul II, which knocked off another Orange County squad, Fountain Valley, 59-38.
Three of the teams in the Platinum Division semifinals are from the Las Vegas area.
Bishop Gorman improved to 8-0 Saturday with its second-most competitive challenge of the season, pulling away down the stretch – and being the explosive scoring of sophomore guard John Mobley Jr. – to knock off Richmond (CA) Salesian, 67-56.
The Gaels’ opponent, at 6 o’clock, will be Durango.
The Trailblazers moved to 5-1 by way of a strong second half, with terrific play from freshmen guards Mason Brown and Jevon Yapi, to hand Playa del Rey (CA) St. Bernard its first loss, 72-53.
At 8:15 (the late Jerry Tarkanian and his family will be honored between the games), Liberty takes on the “outsider” in the Platinum Final Four, Oak Cliff (TX) Faith Family Academy Eagles.
Liberty, led by senior Joshua Jefferson (bound for Saint Mary’s College) and sophomore Dedan Thomas Jr. (a slick point guard), dominated Arlington (VA) Bishop O’Connell Saturday night, 77-62.
Earlier, the team from Texas burst to a 19-point advantage and then held off a frenetic, PopPop Isaacs-led rally to prevail, 69-65.
Isaacs, who signed with Texas Tech last month, scored 34 points.
Faith Family’s 6-7 Brandon Walker, who signed with Texas-Arlington last month, could often face off against Jefferson Monday in what could be one of the better individual matchups of the day.
The same could be some of a likely head-up battled between two of the better guards anywhere on the high school level in San Joaquin Memorial’s Fresno State-bound JoJo Hunter and John Paul II’s 6-3 junior, R.J. Jones.
Each of the tournament’s seven divisional championships will be decided Tuesday at Bishop Gorman.
All of the event’s games are live-streamed and archived on BallerTV.
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