LAS VEGAS – The No.’s 2, 3 and 5 boys’ basketball teams in Southern California cruised to first-round wins in the Platinum Division Wednesday at Bishop Gorman during the first day of the Tarkanian Classic.
Eastlake Roosevelt (No. 2 in this week’s BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30) started things off as Brayden Burries hit five 3s in the first quarter against San Diego St. Augustine, and the final eight minutes were played in running clock-mode, 79-36.
Guards Issac Williamson and Myles Walker were whistled for a couple of fouls apiece in the opening minutes but the Saints were all but helpless in defending Burries – which has often been the case this season for teams trying to check him.
Burries turned in about as efficiently spectacular 25 minutes as possible: 33 points (13 of 19 from the field, including seven of eight on 3s; he didn’t’ attempt a free throw), nine rebounds and five assists without a turnover.
Walker had four of the team’s 12 steals while Williamson had a game-high seven assists.
The competition should be considerably more challenging on Thursday, when the 8-1 Mustangs take on 7-0 Riviera Prep of Miami, the defending Florida 2A state champion, at 4:30.
The Bulldogs turned in an impressive third quarter in Wednesday’s opening game of the event to knock off Downey’s St. Pius X/St. Matthias – which won the bracket here a year ago – behind the play of dynamic sophomore point guard Myles Fuentes, 64-55.
The Warriors (7-3) led by six points at intermission before the Floridians seized control while outscoring them by 14 points in the third quarter.
Fuentes (whose junior brother, Mason, also starts in the backcourt) unleashed a sizzling crossover while getting pretty much anywhere he wanted to on the dribble and was credited with a game-high 18 points and three assists.
His 6-foot-9 classmate, Jeremy Jenkins, had 14 points and as many rebounds.
The Warriors’ top three scorers on the season (seniors Douglas Langford and Jaden Erami, and junior Kayleb Kearse) were a combined 11 of 41 from the floor.
No. 5 Redondo Union (8-0) was next in the batting order and blitzed Seattle’s Rainier Beach with full-court defensive pressure and deep jump shooting to build a 20-point advantage at intermission before prevailing, 88-74.
Juniors Devin Wright (coming off the bench for 15 points) and Zach Khatib (12) both hit their first four shots from behind the arc for the Sea Hawks.
Another junior, 6-5 S.J. Madison, turned in one of the event’s best overall performances Wednesday with 22 points (eight of 12 from the field), eight rebounds, seven assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
And 6-5, Central Michigan-bound Hudson Mayes (pictured/courtesy Greg Stein) – despite being limited to 19 minutes because of foul issues – dominated the opponents off the drive and in the lane with 19 points and eight rebounds.
The Vikings (5-2) kept things from getting too out of hand in the second half behind the shooting of sophomore Keaundre Morris (a transfer from Curtis High), who scored all 24 of his points after intermission – including six 3s.
The Sea Hawks’ second-round Thursday game (3 o’clock) is against Coronado of Henderson (3-2), which handed North Hollywood Campbell Hall – No. 21 in SoCal – its first loss, 85-63, as seniors Mason Abittan (headed for UNLV) and Jalen St. Clair combined for 43 points.
Senior guard Isaiah Johnson (who signed with the University of Colorado last month) led the 5-1 Vikings with 28 points – 21 in the first half.
And, in a game that didn’t tip off until 10:18 p.m. (the previous game went three overtimes), No. 3 Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks overpowered Chandler (AZ) Basha, 80-63, to move into a 9 o’clock quarterfinal Thursday night.
Providing much of the power for the 10-0 Knights were Rutgers-bound guard Lino Mark (19 points, including three 3s, and six assists) and 6-7 junior Tyran Stokes (23 points, despite missing seven of his 13 free throws, 11 rebounds, four assists and two steals).
Stokes is a highly touted (my understatement of the week) transfer from Prolific Prep in Napa who was playing in just his third after being medically cleared after his long recovery from an injury to his left wrist.
Basha (9-1) started two freshmen, one of which – Kingston Montague – led the Bears with 20 points.
In the division’s other two games involving Southern California-based programs, No. 25 Corona Centennial lost to Layton Christian in that three-OT affair, 79-74, while L.A. Westchester (3-6) fell to the host Gaels, 72-60, despite the 31-point performance of 6-8 junior Tajh Ariza.
The Centennial loss was just another in series of gut-cutting defeats for the 3-7 Huskies.
Two of the Ls came in overtime, while two others were by a combined margin of five points.
Six-foot-nine Tyrin Jones (who signed with UNLV last month) led Layton Christian with 32 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots.
Roosevelt, Redondo, Centennial and Layton Christian are part of the 16-team Platinum field during the Dec. 26-30 Classic at Damien, while Campbell Hall is in the Gold bracket.
Another team playing in the Gold competition at the Classic is Irvine’s Crean Lutheran, which beat Idaho’s second-ranked team, Coeur d’ Alene, 69-64, Wednesday in a Nike Division game at Spring Valley High.
The Saints (4-2) got powerful efforts from 6-9 juniors Will Malual (21 points and seven rebounds) and Jacob Majok (nine and nine), and the usual quality performance from sophomore guard Hunter Caplan (20 points and four assists).
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