LA VERNE, CA – The Etiwanda High Eagles outscored the Inderkum Tigers by 26 points over the final nine minutes to prevail, 57-39, Tuesday night to complete the matchups for Wednesday’s Platinum Division championship quarterfinals of The Classic at Damien.
The Eagles (10-1) will take on California’s top-ranked team, 14-0 Harvard-Westlake, at 8:30 Wednesday night in Damien’s on-campus Athletic Center, for the last of the Platinum quarterfinals.
The quarterfinal action starts at 4 o’clock, with defending state champions facing off in Washington’s 8-1 Curtis vs. Utah’s 7-1 American Fork.
Unbeaten West Ranch will try to improve to 14-0 when it faces another potential CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff team in 6-6 Rancho Christian at 5:30.
Another defending state champion, Henderson (Nevada) Liberty (4-5) takes on yet another CIF SS Open contender in 10-3 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at 7.
For up-to-date Classic at Damien results schedules, go to www.classicatdamien.org.
Etiwanda (which hadn’t played since beating Riverside Poly on Dec. 9) trailed the team from Sacramento, 33-25, with about a minute to go in the third quarter.
But the Eagles’ half-court, man-to-man defense, sparked by forward Curtis Williams (pictured) and guards Jimmy Baker Jr., Amare Campbell, and Carrington Pierce, amped its pressure and forced turnover and harried shot attempts, which led to quality transition scoring opportunities.
The 6-7 Williams (among the best of the “unsigned” forwards in the western class of 2023) did an exceptional job of checking Inderkum’s leading scorer, 6-4 Jalen Glenn (nine points and only two field goals) while scoring nine of his own 12 points in the second half.
Baker scored a team-high 13 points while junior Christian Harris came off the bench to add 11.
In the other first-round Platinum games Tuesday:
*Curtis 87, St. Bernard 62: The Vikings, whose campus is near Tacoma, had let from the get-go against another team of “Vikings” (the ones based in Playa del Rey, near LAX).
Six-four Zoom Diallo, a Top 20 (or better) prospect in the national 2024 class, had 21 points and close-to 10 assists, while Point Loma College-bound senior guard Tyce Paulsen scored 32 points (with four 3s).
*West Ranch 63, Dublin 53: The Wildcats, who captured the Platinum Division title in the Las Vegas Tarkanian Classic, never could create much of a lead on the team from Northern California until the final minute.
Seniors Andrew Meadow (the MVP in Las Vegas) scored 19 points and fellow senior Jaqari Miles add 15 while Colorado-bound Courtney Anderson led Dublin with 15.
*Rancho Christian 70, Owyhee 67: Guard Kollen Murphy (a transfer from Colony playing his first game for the Eagles) scored a team-high 22 points, including the go-ahead, transition layup with 11 seconds remaining.
*Liberty 85, Anaheim Canyon 68: Dynamic junior point guard Dedan Thomas Jr. dictated things at both ends of the floor, scoring 23 points while leading his team’s transition and half-court offense flawlessly with a multitude of college coaches watching, including University of Arizona head man Tommy Lloyd.
Vastly underrated 6-5 soph Brandon Benjamin led Canyon with 25 points.
*Harvard-Westlake 79, Narbonne 34: Minus its two best players (Marcus Adams Jr. and his freshman sibling, Maximus) the best team in the L.A. City was no match for the Wolverines.
Seniors Brady Dunlap and Jacob Huggins scored 16 and 14 points, respectively, for the winners.
*Notre Dame 50, Richmond (CA) Salesian 46: The team from northern California slowed down the Knights’ high-powered offense but couldn’t hit enough jumpers (with good looks) or in-tight shots to pull off the upset.
*American Fork 53, Santa Margarita 43: The team from Utah pulled away in the final two minutes to prevail in a half-court, defense-dominant game with one of the better teams in Southern California.
One of the west’s best juniors, 6-5 Blake Rawson, scored 17 points for the winners.
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