Seven championship games set for The Border League

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LAS VEGAS – Three California-based boys’ basketball programs that will play in the Dec. 26-30 Classic at Damien will try to win divisional championships on Sunday’s final day of The Border League.

Players representing Los Alamitos, Anaheim Canyon and Clovis North earned the title slots with two wins apiece on Saturday in gymnasiums across the city.

The event is headquartered at Coronado High in Henderson.

It wraps up early Sunday evening with high-profile “national” matchups that will be televised by the ESPN networks, with Bellflower’s St. John Bosco (playing as “The Tribe” this weekend) facing prep school squad Arizona Compass at 4 o’clock and Miami Columbus (“The Explorers”) taking on Utah Prep two hours later.

Championship games will be played in seven divisions, including:

*The Diamond, where Los Alamitos (“The Griffins”) faces Albuquerque Volcano Vista, which is led by 6-foot-8 Kenyon Aguino and returns many other key players from a team that was 30-1 and New Mexico’s 5A champion, at 11:30 a.m. on the Las Vegas Basketball Center’s second court.

Coach Nate Berger’s Griffins return the bulk of the roster that led them to a 24-6 season that ended with a double-overtime loss at Windward in the CIF SS Division 1 quarterfinals.

The Griffins opened Saturday afternoon action with a hard-fought, 80-70 win over Danville San Ramon Valley – a two-time, Classic at Damien Gold Division winner and the State Division I runner-up to St. John Bosco last March.

Junior forward Tyler Lopez (pictured) came off the bench to score 22 points for the Griffins against SRV.

Later Saturday night, at Basic High, they build a 31-point advantage at intermission against another Classic at Damien participant, San Juan Hills (“JSK”), en route to a 93-80 victory.

*The Premier, during which Nate Harrison’s Canyon players take on Phoenix St. Mary’s (led by 6-6 senior Caspian Jones and 6-9 junior Cameron Williams) at 11:30 in Desert Pine’s main gym.

Canyon (oh, I apologize, “The C”) picked up wins over players from Corona Santiago, 56-46, and from Las Vegas Centennial (“The Vegas Bulldogs”), 70-60, with Brandon Benjamin scoring 20 and 19 points, respectively.

St. Mary’s knocked off another Classic at Damien squad, Crespi (“Encino Elite”) in a semifinal Saturday night, 55-49.

*The Clovis North players (“Fresno Stampede) will take on San Ramon’s Dougherty Valley (“Tri-Valley”) for the Premier championship in a 12:45 afternoon game on Basic High’s main gym floor.

Another SoCal-based team playing for a title Sunday afternoon (3:45, at Basic High) is Hesperia’s Oak Hills. “The Bulldogs” competition in the Pacific finale is Canyon View from Waddle, AZ.

All of the divisional title games will be live-streamed and archived by BallerTV.

In a couple of “showcase” games played at Coronado Saturday afternoon, Harvard-Westlake (“LABC”) edged Overtime Elite of Atlanta, 73-69, as junior guard Joey Sterling scored 34 points with seven 3s, four of those in the closing minutes.

And Eastvale’s Roosevelt (“The Vale”) lost to Florida-based, prep school powerhouse Montverde Academy, 85-79, despite the 34 points, seven rebounds and six assists from Brayden Burries.