FULLERTON – The Damien and La Mirada boys’ basketball teams cruised into Saturday night’s championship showdown in the Rumble For Rosecrans with decisive semifinal victories at Sunny Hills High Friday night.
La Mirada remained unbeaten with its fourth consecutive blowout, knocking off La Serna, 65-45, behind the 25-point performance of freshman Gene Roebuck.
The Matadores were No. 19 in the BurlisonOnBasketball preseason SoCal Top 30.
Coach Randy Oronoz’s club will take on No. 6 Damien in the 7:30 championship game at Sunny Hills.
Coach Mike LeDuc’s Spartans improved to 4-0 while easing past Canyon, 76-34.
Seven-foot junior Nate Garcia led them with 20 points and 12 rebounds, despite sitting out the final 3:30 of the second quarter (after picking up his third foul) and going to the bench for good with 4:47 remaining and his team up by 32 points. Garcia was co-Baseline League Player of the year and an all-CIF Southern Section Division I choice as a sophomore.
The Spartans also got double-figure scoring from senior Xavier Clinton (14), junior Jacob Allen (11) and sophomore Elijah Garner (17, including five 3s).
Senior forward Jaden Goodall led Canyon (3-1) with 19 points — including 17 of his team’s 19 first-half points.
The 6-5 Roebuck (pictured) could be the most “productive” freshmen among the upper-tier of Southern California-based teams. He averaged 20 — in limited minutes — during the three games the Matadores won by an average margin of 29 points.
Six-three junior Julien Gomez, a two-time all-CIF selection for a program that lost in the Southern Section 2AA title game last spring, is averaging 16 ppg despite scoring only seven points Friday night.
There are plenty of other cool matchups on the first Saturday of the season:
*Mira Costa and Los Alamitos, No.’s 21 and 22 in Southern California, play at 7:30 at Ocean View in the championship game of the Jim Harris Classic (formerly known as the Tournament of Champions).
Both programs are loaded in the Class of 2025 (juniors).
*No.’s 5 Eastvale Roosevelt and 11 Crean Lutheran play at 7:30 at St. John Bosco in the Braves’ Tip-Off Classic.
It’s the finale of an eight-game schedule that begins at 9 a.m. and includes compelling matchups between No.’s 17 Redondo Union and 28 Foothill (4:30), and the No. 2 host Braves and No. 30 Long Beach Poly (6).
Roosevelt smoked Birmingham and Hesperia by a margin of 39.5 points in its first two games, 6-5 junior Brayden Burries leading the way with 31- and 35-point performances.
Crean Lutheran, in its season debut, is led by sophomore guards Kaiden Bailey and Braeden Davidson, and 6-10 center Milanas Luksas.
*No. 4 Corona Centennial takes its 2-0 record (after wins over West Ranch and Rancho Christian) into its on-campus, 7:30 game against one of Arizona’s best teams (Phoenix Sunnyslope) in the final game of the BattleZone.
UCLA-bound Eric Freeny has led the Huskies, who are still waiting for 6-8 transfer Carter Bryant to be cleared to play by the CIF Southern Section office.
Other BattleZone teams involving ranked teams have No. 15 St. Bernard facing Hesperia at 4:30, and No.’s 8 Campbell Hall and 20 Etiwanda hooking up at 6.
*No. 24 Crespi and Saugus, after winning their first three games, play in the Paul Sutton Tip-Off finale at 4:30 at Providence High in Burbank.
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