GLENDALE, AZ – Every major boys high school basketball powerhouse program in California was repped at the June 21-23 Section 7 Boys Weekend in the State Farm Stadium.
But, with the City of Glendale and Legacy Foundation, 16-team brackets laced with programs such as Harvard-Westlake, Roosevelt, St. John Bosco, Mater Dei and Sierra Canyon – as well as Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas – it was clubs from Arizona and Idaho that rolled to those championships.
Yes, that’s right, you read Idaho.
The Owyhee Storm, whose campus is in the Boise suburb of Meridian, knocked off:
*Perry of Gilbert (which has won three Arizona state titles in a row but was without USA BB 17U squad member Koa Peat);
*Portland’s Central Catholic, projected as the top team in Oregon in ‘24-25;
*Richmond Salesian, the California State Open Division championship runner-up last March and:
*Orlando’s Oak Ridge, which lost in overtime to Miami Columbus in Florida’s top division state title game, to secure the City of Glendale crown.
Those in attendance or reading this that were stunned by those results didn’t know a thing about this program before last weekend.
In the program’s three years of existence, while coached by the 31-year-old Andy Harrington and a terrific support staff, the Storm has won a couple of state titles (including the most recent one) while going a collective 69-12, including a 7-5 remark in in three appearances the top bracket of the west’s best post-Christmas tournament, the Classic at Damien.
The best player on those three teams, 6-foot-5 Liam Campbell (a three-team, all-tourney selection at Damien), is set to be a freshman at Saint Mary’s in 2024-25.
But this is the best team that Harrington and his staff have put on the floor, as illustrated by a strong performance during the June 5-8 Great Western Classic in Utah and then the four wins in Arizona against teams laced with Division-I prospects that will challenge for championships next spring.
And, even with the loss of Campbell, the Storm also brought a roster of future college players to Arizona, notably seniors-to-be in 6-7 Jackson Rasmussen and 6-4 Boden Howell, and 5-10, class of 2026 point guard Logan Haustveit.
Each was terrific all weekend, with Rasmussen (pictured, courtesy Greg Stein; he’s already committed to the University of Idaho for the 2025-26 season) the most polished and productive “power forward” in the 160-team, 10-bracket field.
How should you judge any national teams preseason Top 25 you see going into November? If you don’t see Owyhee listed, those putting it out didn’t do any real research other than looking at recruiting lists.
Taking the Legacy Foundation title was that Arizona club, Millennium of Goodyear.
The Tigers were 25-6 last season, losing to Perry (71-67) on March 2 in the state title game.
Their performance over the weekend locked in their spot as the biggest threat to Peat and Perry next season.
Senior-to-be Kingston Tosi (a 6-7 forward whose recruiting stock was hotter than the temperatures outside the State Farm Stadium) and 6-6 junior-to-be Cameron Holmes – whose brother, DaRon Holmes of Dayton, is expected to be an NBA first-round draft pick Wednesday night – led the way in wins over Santa Maria (CA) St. Joseph, Mater Dei, Bishop Gorman and, in the finale, San Francisco Riordan, in eased up, 69-58, fashion.
California-based squads fared well in the other eight brackets while winning five of them and being repped by six others in the finals:
AZSTA Bracket
North Tampa Christian 55, Danville (CA) San Ramon Valley 50: The Wolves knocked off American Fork (UT) in the first round, got a buzzer-beating, 40-footer by senior-to-be Luke Isaak to stun Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (57-56) and rallied to topple Phoenix Brophy in the semifinals.
Isaak and his teammates will play four more times this weekend in Roseville during the June 28-30 Boys’ Cali Live 24 at the
Coco5 Bracket
Downey (CA) St. Pius X/St. Matthias 83, Las Vegas Mojave 74: The Warriors looked geared-up to make another run at a slot in the CIF Southern Section’s Open playoff division in 2024-25.
Six-eight 6-8 Douglas Langford averaged 18.5 points and 9.3 rebounds while point guard Kayleb Kearse, a junior to-be who the past two seasons at Serra, went for 18.3 points and 2.3 assists per game.
AZ Family Bracket
St. Anthony 53, Clovis North 51: Jayshawn Kimble, after taking a pass from Justin Blair, nailed a 17-footer with two seconds to go to give the Saints the championship, capping a three-run that also included wins over Valley Christian (AZ), Torrey Pines (San Diego) and Chaparral (CO).
Mayo Clinic Bracket
Crespi 65, Anaheim Canyon 56: Six-six, 215-pound senior-to-be Peyton White muscled his way to a 28-point effort (nine of those via 3s) to pull away in the final 10 minutes despite the 26 points and 10 rebounds from 6-5 Brandon Benjamin for Canyon.
Willmeg Construction Bracket
Rolling Hills Prep 67, Campbell Hall 50: The half-court execution that led to a combined 50 points from forward Kawika Suter (28 and six rebounds) and guard Mateo Trujillo (22 and five assists) was too much for Campbell Hall to cope with.
Point guard Isaiah Johnson averaged 31 ppg at the event despite hitting just five of 14 shots from the floor and scoring 16 points in the title game for the Vikings.
Az Athletic Grounds Bracket
Clovis West 75, St. Bernard 67: The Golden Eagles – led by new coach Nick Podesta and with former coach and now-Fresno State Head Coach Vance Walberg often looking on from court-side – got a combined 51 points, 22 rebounds, six assists and six steals from D.J. Stickman and Jace Kellogg.
Amazon Bracket
Olympus 69, Destiny Christian 62: the Salt Lake City-based program got a combined 48 points from Tyler Goldsberry, Gavin Lowe and Caden Jackson to knock off the club from Sacramento.
Destiny (formerly “Capital”) Christian was led by the 20 points of senior-to-be guard Jaylen Valdez and was one of the 10 programs that played in title games on Sunday that is scheduled to play in the Dec. 26-30 Classic at Damien.
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Asset Preservation Bracket
Las Vegas 64, American Heritage 57: Guard Tayshaun Jackson led the winners with 16 points.
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