Updated Top 30 plus best players of last week, along with games to watch

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – With the unveiling of the CIF Southern Section boys’ basketball playoffs set for Feb. 9, just four weeks of the regular season remain.

Multiple games scheduled this week will impact the pecking order of the Open and Division I – and beyond – playoff fields after the results of the games of Feb. 5 are punched into the computer system used by the CIF SS for the first time this season.

*Each of the nine games scheduled Saturday for the Scorebooklive.com/Rolling Hills Prep State Preview (played at north Torrance High) involves at least one team in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30.

The most notable of those have No. 6 Redondo Union facing No. 18 Los Alamitos (3 o’clock), and No. 11 Anaheim Canyon playing No. 16 Inglewood (7:30).

*Redondo’s game with Los Alamitos comes less than 24 hours after the Sea Hawks play at No. 12 Mira Costa Friday night (7:30) in the first of their two Bay League showdowns. The second is set for Feb. 4 at Redondo Union.

*The Trinity League matchup this week with the most potential “league title and playoff implications” is set for Wednesday night when the No. 19 Mater Dei Monarchs make the trek to San Juan Capistrano Valley to play No. 9 JSerra.

Gary McKnight’s Monarchs – No. 32 in last week’s computer ratings – stunned then-No. 2 St. John Bosco Friday night, 62-59.

And, on the same night, Keith Wilkinson’s Lions (No. 4 in the computer pecking order last week) got blitzed by the jump shooting and transition attack of host Santa Margarita (now No. 8 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30), 70-49.

The Lions beat the Monarchs in their last Trinity game last season (in SJC), then knocked them off on the road in the Open playoffs – the program’s first-ever wins over Mater Dei.

*The Mission League (with, like the Trinity, four teams among first 13 teams in the SoCal Top 30) saw its schedule postponed like week because of the Southland’s firestorms.

As of early Monday morning, those games haven’t been rescheduled.

Among the games (tentatively) set for this week, No. 2 Harvard-Westlake plays host to No. 10 Crespi on Wednesday.

*No. 4 Notre Dame (Saturday, vs. Miami Columbus and the Boozer Twins, 2:30 p.m., ET) and No. 13 Sierra Canyon (Saturday, vs. Loganville, GA, Grayson, 8 p.m., ET) are Mission teams scheduled to play in the Springfield, MA, HoopHall Hall of Fame Classic this week.

So is top-ranked Roosevelt (next Monday, vs. Washington, DC., Gonzaga College Prep, 11 a.m. ET).

The Mustangs – who extended their win streak to 17 by topping No. 22 Etiwanda, 75-51, Saturday at Irvine Valley College in the SoCal Showdown – take on Corona Santiago (Tuesday/road) and Corona Centennial (Thursday/home) in Big VIII League contests.

*And the St. John Bosco Braves (now at No. 3 in the Top 30) are also in Springfield, playing Chantilly, VA, Paul VI, Saturday at 4 p.m., ET.

The Braves take on visiting JSerra next Monday night in another significant Trinity League clash.

 

Top players’ performances I watched in person last week

(Jan. 6-11)

Most Outstanding Player: Brandon Benjamin/Anaheim Canyon/Sr.

Next 15

Seniors

*Brayden Burries/Roosevelt

*B.J. Davis-Ray/JSerra

*Aaron Glass/Rancho Cucamonga

*Christian Kranz/Mira Costa

*Myles Walker/Roosevelt

*Issac Williamson/Roosevelt

*Staf Yilmazturk/Canyon

Juniors

*David Abisogun/Fairmont Prep

*Kaiden Bailey/Santa Margarita

*Acen Jimenez/La Habra

*Brayden Kyman/Santa Margarita

*Jacob Majok/Crean Lutheran

Sophomores

*Benjamin Dzabatou/Orange Lutheran

*Sloane Harris/Etiwanda

*Gene Roebuck/La Mirada

 

SoCal Top

(results of Jan. 6-11)

School/Record/Last Week

1. Roosevelt/21-1/1

Next Up: Tuesday, at Corona Santiago, 7 p.m.

2. Harvard-Westlake/18-1/3

Next Up: Tuesday, at Alemany, 7 p.m.

3. Saint John Bosco/17-2/2

Next Up: Wednesday, at Servite, 7 p.m.

4. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame/15-2

Next Up: Tuesday, at Loyola, 7 p.m.

5. La Mirada/17-4/6

Next Up: Wednesday, at Dominguez, 7 p.m.

6. Redondo Union/17-2/7

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Palos Verdes, 7 p.m.

7. Heritage Christian/17-2/8

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Village Christian, 7 p.m.

8. Santa Margarita/15-3/10

Next Up: Wednesday, at Orange Lutheran, 7 p.m.

9. JSerra/16-4/5

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. No. 19 Mater Dei, 7 p.m.

10. Crespi/15-4/13

Next Up: Tuesday, at St. Francis, 7 p.m.

11. Anaheim Canyon/16-4/15

Next Up: Monday, vs. San Gabriel Academy, Intuit Dome Arena, 12:30 p.m.

12. Mira Costa/19-1/11

Next Up: Friday, vs. No. 6 Redondo Union, 7 p.m.

13. Sierra Canyon/13-3/10

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Chaminade, 7 p.m.

14. Windward/13-4/12

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Crossroads School, 7 p.m.

15. Saint Pius X/Saint Matthias Academy/10-6/14

Next Up: Monday, vs. Bishop Montgomery, 7 p.m.

16. Inglewood/17-4/16

Next Up: Monday, at Beverly Hills, 7:30 p.m.

17. Rolling Hills Prep/15-4/17

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. New Roads, Jump Beyond (Torrance), 3 p.m.

18. Los Alamitos/12-6/19

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. Fountain Valley, 7 p.m.

19. Mater Dei/14-4/20

Next Up: Wednesday, at No. 9 JSerra, 7 p.m.

20. La Habra/18-5/21

Next Up: Tuesday, at Foothill, 7 p.m.

21. Culver City/16-2/22

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. Lawndale, 7:30 p.m.

22. Etiwanda/13-8/23

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. No. 23 Rancho Cucamonga, 6:30 p.m.

23. Rancho Cucamonga/16-7/24

Next Up: Wednesday, at No. 22 Etiwanda, 6:30 p.m.

24. Brentwood School/18-2/25

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Campbell Hall, 7 p.m.

25. Damien/15-6/26

Next Up: Wednesday, vs. Chino Hills, 6:30 p.m.

26. Saint Bernard/14-5/27

Next Up: Monday, at Serra, 7 p.m.

27. Oak Hills/15-4/28

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Ridgecrest Burroughs, 6 p.m.

28. Riverside Poly/12-7/30

Next Up: Tuesday, at Valley View, 6:30 p.m.

29. Saint Anthony/10-6/20

Next Up: Monday, at St. Paul, 7 p.m.

30. Rancho Verde/15-4/18

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. Arlington, 6:30 p.m.