Updated Top 30 and a look key games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – The final four days of the CIF Southern Section boys’ basketball regular season begin on . .  . Sunday.

Traditionally, high school programs that are members of the California Interscholastic Federation are not allowed to play “real season” games or practice on Sunday.

But the Southern California fires forced many postponements, so the CIF granted a waiver for some games to be played on Sunday.

The most notable of those involve Mission League programs, where the La Canada St. Francis team will visit Alemany in Mission Hills (5 p.m.), and Chaminade will play at Loyola (4 o’clock) in the first round of the league’s tournament.

The winners of those games will advance to play at Crespi in Encino, and Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks, respectively, Monday night at 7 o’clock.

Harvard-Westlake and Sierra Canyon will play host to league semifinals Tuesday night at 7 o’clock, and the league final the next night is at the highest remaining seed.

Harvard-Westlake is No. 1 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 and most recent (Jan. 27) CIF Southern computer ratings.

The Wolverines, the CIF Southern Section Open winners last year and the two-time defending State Open champions, are a locks to be in the Section’s Open playoff field when it is unveiled on Saturday at noon – even if they were upset on Tuesday night.

In other league title games:

*Roosevelt (No. 2 in both the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 and in the computer ratings) takes on Centennial (No. 24 in BurlisonOnBasketball’s top 30) Tuesday night in Santiago in Corona.

The Mustangs’ Brayden Burries (pictured) was joined by Alijah Arenas   (Chatsworth) and Nikolas Khamenia (Harvard-Westlake) as the three SoCal-based players selected to the 2025 McDonald’s All-American team last week.

*And Rancho Cucamonga (No. 17 in BurlisonOnBasketball) plays host to Etiwanda Wednesday night in the first Baseline League tourney title game.

*Will there be an “outright” Trinity League champion?

Games on Monday (No. 16 Mater Dei at No. 7 Santa Margarita) and Tuesday (No. 3 St. John Bosco at No. 8 JSerra) will determine the league winner – or “co-“, “tri-“ or, yes, even “four-way” winners.

Should the Monarchs win on the road Monday night, the Lions beat the visiting Braves on Tuesday, and Santa Margaritas win at Servite on Tuesday, the final standings would be:

JSerra, Mater Dei, Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco at 7-3, Orange Lutheran 2-8 and Servite 0-10.

Yeah – let’s see how the CIF Southern Section computer chews on those numbers . . .

*In another Tuesday night game, Mira Costa (No.’s 11 in both the BurlisonOnBasketball and computer ratings) can gain a share of the Bay League title by knocking off host Redondo (No.’s 5&4).

A road win by the Mustangs would also enhance their chances of landing in the CIF SS Open Division playoffs – especially if the CIF powers-that-be expand the field from eight to 10 teams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Top 10 Players’ performances I watched in person last week

(Games of Jan. 27-31)

Most Outstanding:  Nikolas Khamenia/Harvard-Westlake/Sr

Seniors

*Bryce Cofield/Sierra Canyon

*Blake Davidson/Mater Dei

*B.J. Davis-Ray/JSerra

*Elzie Harrington/St. John Bosco

*Dallas Washington/Santa Margarita

Juniors

*Kaiden Bailey/Santa Margarita

*Dominique Bentho/Harvard-Westlake

*Brayden Kyman/Santa Margarita

Sophomores

*DeMarcus Henry/Mater Dei

 

SoCal Top 30

School/Record/Last Week

1. Harvard-Westlake/23-1/1

Next Up: Tuesday, Mission League tourney semifinal, vs. TBD, 7 p.m.

2. Roosevelt/26-2/2

Next Up: Tuesday, Big VIII tourney final, vs. No. 24 Centennial, at Corona Santiago High, 7 p.m.

3. Saint John Bosco/23-4/3

Next Up: Tuesday, at No. 8 JSerra, 7 p.m.

4. La Mirada/22-4/4

Next Up: Monday, vs. Gahr 7 p.m.; Wednesday, vs. Mayfair, 7 p.m.

5. Redondo/23-2/5

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. No. 11 Mira Costa, 7 p.m.

6. Heritage Christian/24-3/7

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

7. Santa Margarita/20-5/10

Next Up: Monday, vs. No. 16 Mater Dei, 7 p.m.; Tuesday, at Servite, 7 p.m.

8. JSerra/21-6/8

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. No. 3 St. John Bosco, 7 p.m.

9. Sierra Canyon/20-4/9

Next Up: Tuesday, Mission League tourney semifinal, vs. TBD, 7 p.m.

10. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame/20-5/6

Next Up: Monday, Mission League tourney quarterfinal, vs. winner of Sunday’s Chaminade at Loyola game, 7 p.m.

11. Mira Costa/24-3/11

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. No. 5 Redondo, 7 p.m.

12. Inglewood/24-4/13

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

13. Crespi/19-7/14

Next Up: Monday, Mission League quarterfinal, vs. winner of Sunday’s St. Francis at Alemany game, 7 p.m.

14. Los Alamitos/19-8

Next Up: Tuesday, at Fountain Valley, 7 p.m.

15. Rolling Hills Prep/19-6/15

Next Up: Wednesday, at Geffen Academy, 4 p.m.

16. Mater Dei/19-7/17

Next Up: Monday, at No. 7 Santa Margarita, 7 p.m.

17. Rancho Cucamonga/22-7/18

Next Up: Wednesday, Baseline League tourney final, vs. Etiwanda, 6:30 p.m.

18. Oak Hills/22-4/20

Next  Up: Monday, vs. Serrano, 6 p.m.; Wednesday, at Hesperia, 6 p.m.

19. Saint Anthony/17-6/22

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

20. Anaheim Canyon/19-8/19

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. No. 26 Crean Lutheran, 7 p.m.

21. B. Poly/20-6/24

Next Up: Monday, at Compton, 7 p.m.; Tuesday, at Long Beach Cabrillo, 7 p.m.

22. Brentwood School/23-4/23

Next Up: Monday, vs. No. 23 Windward, 7 p.m.

23. Windward/19-6/12

Next Up: Monday, at No. 22 Brentwood School, 7 p.m.

24. Corona Centennial/14-15/25

Next Up: Tuesday, Big VIII League tourney final, vs. No. 2 Roosevelt, at Corona Santiago High, 7 p.m.

25. San Clemente/22-5/26

Next Up: Tuesday, vs. San Juan Hills, 7 p.m.

26. Crean Lutheran/14-11/27

Next Up: Tuesday, at No. 20 Anaheim Canyon, 7 p.m.

27. La Habra/20-8/28

Next Up: Regular season completed.

28. Santa Barbara/22-5/29

Next Up: Monday, vs. Santa Barbara San Marcos, 7 p.m.

29. Newport Pacifica Christian/18-7/UR

Next Up: Monday, at San Gabriel Academy, 7 p.m.

30. Westchester/14-9/UR

Next Up: Wednesday, at Fairfax, 7 p.m.; Friday, vs. Palisades, 4:30 p.m.