LA VERNE, CA – High-profile boys’ basketball programs from Southern California and the rest of the west highlight the action when play tips off Tuesday morning in the Platinum, Gold, and Diamond divisions on the second day of The Classic at Damien.
The eight Platinum games (beginning with the 10 o’clock between St. Bernard and University City (WA) Curtis) will be played in Athletic Center and the eight gold contests (starting at 9:30 a.m., with Roosevelt and Birmingham) in Event Center, each located on the Damien High Campus.
And, located just a few short blocks from Damien, Ramona Middle School will play host to the eight games in the Diamond Division, which begin at 9:30 a.m. with St. Monica and San Gabriel Academy playing.
The Silver, Bronze, Green and Iron divisions played their opening-round games Monday.
Each of those divisions will have a “bye day” at some point this week, with all seven championship games set for Friday on the Damien campus.
Tuesday evening (at approximately 5:15), legendary coach George Raveling will be honored by The Classic at mid court of The Athletic Center.
Harvard-Westlake (Top 10 in the national ratings) takes a 12-0 record into its 4 o’clock Platinum game with the No. 1 team from the L.A. City Section, Narbonne (8-2, winner of its last five games).
And West Ranch won its four games in the Las Vegas Tarkanian Classic – knocking off Mater Dei Wednesday and the host Bishop Gorman Gaels in the Platinum final Thursday night – to improve to 12-0 behind Most Outstanding Player and Boise State-bound forward Andrew Meadow.
Harvard-Westlake and West Ranch are on opposite sides of the bracket, so couldn’t play in a “San Fernando Valley vs. Santa Clarita Valley Showdown” until Friday.
But each face potentially pot-holed roads if they are to hook up for the division championship.
Narbonne isn’t expected to have its best player (Marcus Adams, is suffering with the influenza, according to Coach Kumase DeMesa).
Barring an upset that would be even more significant now with the best player in the L.A. City Section out for Narbonne), Harvard-Westlake would play either Etiwanda (9-1) or Sacramento Inderkum (7-1), who play in Tuesday night’s Platinum finale at 8:30.
The matchups in the lower portion of the upper bracket have St. Bernard (11-2, led by senior guard Tyler Rolison) against defending Washington State 4A champion University City Curtis (7-1).
Recruiters from a multitude of upper-major college programs from across the country (if the inclement weather has eased air travel options) are expected in the Athletic Center for that game to see Curtis’ 6-4 Zoom Diallo, among the most well-thought-of Class of 2024 guards anywhere.
In the other upper-bracket game, another state champion (7-1 faces another challenger for a CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff bid, Orange County’s Santa Margarita.
The Eagles improved to 13-1 with four wins in a row in Las Vegas to capture the Nike (second) Division of the Tarkanian Classic.
West Ranch (which was repped by two other seniors, Jazz Gardner, and Jaqari Miles, on the Tarkanian All-Classic team) faces Northern California’s Dublin (9-3), which has a University of Colorado-bound guard in 6-5 Courtney Anderson.
They play in the lower bracket at 11:30 a.m.
The winner of that clash takes on the winner of the game between 3-1 Meridian Owyhee (the state champion in Idaho) and 5-6 Rancho Christian, which – because of travel issues for the Idaho team – will be played at 7 o’clock at near-by Bonita High.
The final two games in the lower bracket see defending Nevada State Champion Henderson Liberty (3-5) facing Anaheim Canyon (12-1) at 2:30 in the Athletic Center, with Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (8-3) challenged by Richmond (CA) Salesian College Prep (6-3).
Liberty has one of the most heavily recruited junior point guards in the country in Dedan Thomas Jr.
And his brother, Tyus (pictured with Dedan), is among the top freshmen guards anywhere in high school.
Among the headliners in the Gold Division are Carmichael (near Sacramento) Jesuit, a 7-1 led by one of the best seniors in the west in 6-6 Andrej Stojakovic (an all-Classic choice year who signed with Stanford last month) and 8-4 Rancho Verde, with a 6-11 center, Jacob McFarland, that signed with the University of Houston.
Rancho Verde takes on Glendale (AZ) Ironwood at 12:30 in The Event Center, while Jesuit plays Long Beach Poly and its terrific 6-4 sophomore, Jovani Ruff, at 3:30.
Leave a Reply