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Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

JSerra digs deep to overcome Millennium Friday night

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REDONDO BEACH – The JSerra Lions overcame Goodyear (AZ) Millennium’s 15 3-point baskets, and a 14-point, first-half deficit, to dig out a 63-61 victory Friday night during Day I of the Jordan Brand/Take Flight Challenge at Redondo Union High,

Seven games were played Friday – four in the school’s main gymnasium and the others in its spacious auxiliary gym.

Action resumes Saturday morning 9 o’clock (with a girls’ game between Crossroads and Narbonne in the aux gym) and 9:30 (St. Monica vs. Legacy Christian in a boys game in the main gym).

Fourteen other games will be played, with many of the top teams and players from Southern California and beyond taking part.

Highly toured, 6-foot-6 junior Cameron Holmes hit three first-quarter 3s and five overall, and senior guard J.T. Amundsen (son of Coach Ty Amundsen) also added five, including two in the fourth quarter, for the Tigers (2-2).

But the Lions (5-2) were able to contain Amundsen to just a one 3 in the second half and efficiently get the ball into the lane for high-percentage attempts, via the play of posts Jarne Eyenga (a 6-9 senior, bound for UNC-Charlotte) and Ryan Doane (a 6-8 freshman with a marvelous, on-court future).

And they also starting knock in shots from deep themselves, B.J. Davis-Ray ( a senior head for SMU in his native Texas) hitting two in the fourth quarter as part of his game-high 19 points.

Dominic Bolton (pictured/a 6-3 transfer from Laguna Hills) hit two 3s apiece in the final two quarters, the last of those with 1:07 to go to put the Lions up for the first time, 62-61.

Holmes and Quincy Everson (near the final buzzer) missed potential winning shots and Davis-Ray’s free throw with 23 seconds to go provided the final score.

In some of the other games:

*Owyhee 56, Dallas Kimball 46: The defending Idaho State champion led wire-to-wire in its season opener, with Rice University-bound forward Boden Howell leading the way with 17 points and junior point guard Logan Haustveit adding 12.

The Storm faces 6-0 and two-time California State Open champion Harvard-Westlake at 5:30 Saturday.

*St. Bernard 56, Rolling Hills Prep 48: The Titans (8-1) led by 13 points at intermission before the Vikings (6-2) got their pressure defense and transition  offense in the second half.

Seniors Joshua Palmer (14 points), Omari Abdallah (13) and Caleb Versher (12), and junior Aiden Gresham (11) scored in double figures for the winners while junior forward Kawika Suter led the Titans with 18.

*Highland 67, Crossroads 55: The Hawks (from Gilbert in Arizona) improved to 4-2 with the win against the Santa Monica-based Roadrunners, by way of its crisp ball movement and the jump shooting of the likes of senior Michael Johnson (22 points) and sophomore Ty Crandall (14).

Senior posts E.J. Vernon (18 points) and Cheikh Diebakhate (17) kept the Roadrunners reasonably close until the final minutes.

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