REDONDO BEACH – The Campbell Hall, Beverly Hills, Windward and Harvard-Westlake boys basketball teams all picked up victories on Tuesday’s first day of the Ryse Williams/Pac Shores Showcase at Redondo High – the alma mater of the late and great Williams.
Harvard-Westlake (No. 2 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal ratings) closed the first night out by improving to 6-0 with its 83-40 victory over Long Beach St. Anthony.
Campbell Hall went to 3-0 in the first game while knocking off Inglewood, 76-59.
In the most compelling – aka, “tight” – game played Tuesday, Beverly Hills held off Irvine Crean Lutheran, 69-68.
And, in the other game (that was third, chronologically), Windward jumped out to a 12-point advantage after the first quarter and Newport Pacifica Christian never got closer than to within the final score, 71-60.
Senior forward Brady Dunlap, who signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Notre Dame, returned to action for Harvard-Westlake after missing the past four games – including two the team played in Texas over the weekend – because of an injured left.
Though limited to 10 minutes (per advice of medical and training staff), Dunlap scored 14 points – 12 of them coming via his trademark jump-shooting ability from behind the arc.
And the Wolverines also got a strong effort from junior guard Christian Horry, who missed a couple of games because of non-COVID illness.
The son of Robert Horry (he of the seven NBA championship rings by way of the Rockets, Lakers, and Spurs) hit three 3s – all in the second half – for nine points to go with six rebounds and three assists.
Coach David Rebibo also watched as his “depth” continued to evolve by way of quality minutes from freshmen Dominique Bentho (nine points, including a left-corner 3, and five rebounds) and Amir Jones (two layups and a blocked shots in the fourth quarter), juniors Josh Engelberg and Niccolo Kalischer-Stork, and seniors Brando Fuqua.
The Wolverines are back at Thursday night with a 6 ‘clock game at Redondo Union against San Gabriel Academy.
Campbell Hall’s strong junior class became even more impressive Tuesday with the Vikings’ debut of 6-4 Tanner Jones, the son of Clippers assistant coach (and former NBA player) Dahntay Jones.
Jones scored 12 points in the first quarter – six of those by way of rim-influencing dunks – and finished with 20.
Aaron Powell, one of the better Class of 2024 point-guard prospects in the West, led the way with 21 points – including his own vertical explosion into a dunk.
Campbell Hall will attempt to go to 4-0 when it plays Washington Prep at Redondo Union Thursday.
Beverly Hills will take a 5-0 record into its Wednesday night (6:30) game with Long Beach Poly after its down-to-the-wire win over Crean Lutheran Tuesday.
Junior guard Lior Baradarian scored 11 fourth-quarter points (he finished with 17) to help the Normans rally from seven points down to knock off Crean Lutheran.
Freshman guard Kaiden Bailey scored 28 points for the Saints, including a 3 at the buzzer after Baradarian’s two free throws gave his team a four-point edge with 5 seconds to go.
And Gavin Hightower (pictured) – one of the top sophomore point guards in California – scored 20 points with six assists and five steals to help Windward go to 3-1 by knocking off Pacifica Christian.
Fellow sophomore Jeremiah Hampton added 17 points while senior Luke Sammann chipped in with 18 (including four 3s).
Senior guard Parker Strauss led the Tritons with 23 points.
Leave a Reply