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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Three Trinity League programs – headed by long-time regional and national power Mater Dei – are among the first eight in the pecking order for the BurlisonOnBasketball CIF Southern and L.A. City Sections preseason Top 30 boys high school teams.

But its not the Monarchs nor two-time defending State Open Division champion Sierra Canyon holding up the top spot with the high school season set to get underway Monday afternoon (Nov. 18).

Rancho Christian got that nod, and not strictly because of the presence of the best player in the national Class of 2020 – USC-bound, 7-foot bundle of hoops’ and athletic’ skill, Evan Mobley (pictured) – on Coach Ray Barefield’s roster.

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LA VERNE, Ca. – Some of Southern California’s better teams were on display Saturday at Damien High – nine days before the Nov. 18 start of the real boys’ high school basketball season.

Damien’s “Pre-Season Shootout” included eight games involving eight programs, with Mark Keppel (Alhambra), Oak Park, Oaks Christian (Thousand Oaks), Servite (Anaheim), Colony (Ontario), Calabasas, Chaminade (West Hills) and the host Spartans playing twice apiece.

Oak Park played in the day’s first two games, vs. Keppel and Oaks Christian, winning both behind the near-stunning offensive display of University of Pennsylvania-bound guard Clark Slajchert, who averaged 30.4 points per game as a junior.

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THOROFARE, NJ – A reasonable could be made for any of 10 or candidates being tabbed as the Most Outstanding Player during the Saturday-Sunday Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp at the RiverWinds Community Center.

But, after the conclusion of the Top 30 Crème of the Crop All-Star game that wrapped up the event, it was sophomores Roddy Gayle and Khalif Crawley, Jr. posing for pictures together after sharing the honor Sunday afternoon.

The 6-foot-4 Gayle (from Lewiston Porter in Youngstown, NY) was one of the best three or four “pure scorers” among the 230 or so players at the event, nailing jumpers from all ranges while getting a nice bag of dunks, as well.

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THOROFARE, NJ – Twenty-one states were represented by – as would be expected – New Jersey and Pennsylvania players were among those making the biggest impressions Saturday during the first day of the Pangos All-East Frosh/Soph Camp.

Two hundred-plus players were in action at the RiverWinds Community Center, with the athletes spread over 24 teams that played twice apiece.

Action resumes Sunday morning at 9:15, with each team playing once (spread over three courts).

The camp will conclude with two all-star games, beginning at 1:15 in the afternoon and wrapping up about two hours later.

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   La Grange, IL – The balance of high-quality players in the Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp was precisely illustrated by the event’s two all-star games going into overtimes Sunday afternoon at the Park District facility in this Chicago suburb.

But the on-court revelation as to the best player among the 200 or so from 15 states that were on hand couldn’t have been any more emphatic.

Six-foot-seven Omaha Biliew put the wraps on a dominating weekend effort, in which he mostly overwhelmed any and all opponents, by scoring 23 points and grabbing five rebounds while blocking 10 shots in the Top 30 Crème of the Crop game.

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