SANTA ANA, Ca. – Fifteen games – including a girls’ clash between the Mater Dei and Aliso Niguel squads Friday night at 7:30 – are on that this weekend during the 27th Nike Boys Basketball Extravaganza in Mater Dei High’s Meruelo Athletic Center.
Games get underway Friday afternoon at 1:30, when Cerritos Valley Christian takes on Rancho Santa Margarita’s St Margaret’s. They wrap up Saturday night with the 9 o’clock tipoff between the top high school team in California, Corona Centennial, facing Henderson (NV) Coronado.
In order to enter the facility and view the games, spectators must show their proof-of-vaccination card (or copy thereof) or documentation of a negative PCR test within the past 72 hours.
They almost where masks (covering noses, as well as mouths) inside the facility.
Tickets can be purchased at www.gofan.com.
Here are some of the compelling matchups (and why):
*Etiwanda vs. Las Vegas Durango (4:30 p.m.). The Eagles are back smack dab in the hunt for one of the eight CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff bids following wins last weekend over one-loss Damien and Colony teams.
They’re led by University of New Mexico-bound forward Quinton Webb, as well of two of the better juniors in Southern California in point guard Jimmy Baker Jr. and forward Curtis Williams.
*Studio City Harvard-Westlake vs. Irvine Crean Lutheran (Saturday, 3 p.m.). Barring anything too surprising in the final two weeks of the regular season, each of these teams seem headed for the CIF SS Open playoffs. The outcome of this game could determine the No. 3 seed, with Centennial and Sierra Canyon likely locks for the top two spots.
*Sherman Oaks Notre Dame vs. San Diego St. Augustine (Saturday, 4:30). The Knights could all but put a stranglehold on of those eight Open slots with a victory against San Diego County’s best team.
*Las Vegas Bishop Gorman vs Chicago Whitney Young (Saturday, 6). The top high school in the west, outside of California, takes on a traditional power from the Midwest. Coach Grant Rice’s Gorman squad as one of the elite unsigned seniors in the west in 6-foot-6 Darrion Williams, who was the Most Outstanding Player in the Tarkanian Classic and Torrey Pines Holiday Classic in December.
Mater Dei vs. Hacienda Heights Los Altos (Saturday, 7:30). The host Monarchs, who play Servite at 9 Friday night in a Trinity League game as part of this event, also have to keep winning to keep their Open hopes strong. This game will feature two of the top underclass “bigs” in the west in Los Altos’ 7-foot Jazz Gardner and Mater Dei 6-10 freshman Tee Bartlett.
Centennial vs. Coronado (Saturday, 9 p.m.). The Huskies will face a team with a lot of individual talent in this one, by way of Texas Tech-bound point guard Pop Pop Isaacs and junior forwards Osiris Grady and D.J. Frazier.
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