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PASADENA – The championship “platinum” semifinals of the sixth Maranatha Summer Boys Basketball Block Party are set for Friday night at the host school.

Four of what are expected to be among the very best squads in Southern California for 2018-19 are set in the 7:30 and 8:30 matchups.

In the first clash, La Verne Damien takes on L.A. Fairfax, with Long Beach Poly and Studio City Harvard-Westlake to follow.

The likelihood of Damien landing into the CIF Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division playoff pool next February was greatly enhanced with the recent addition of transfer guard Jarred Hyder (pictured) from Cajon High.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Isaiah Mobley proved quite a prophet Saturday night in the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.

“I like this team,” the senior-to-be from Rancho Christian High in the Southern California community of Temecula told an acquaintance just after the “76ers”, one of the 10 teams made up from the players in attendance at the National Basketball Players Association Top 100 Camp, had completed their first practice Wednesday morning.

“Watch – we’re going to win the championship.”

And that they did.

The 6-foot-9 Mobley and a deep and talented 76ers crew held off the Warriors, 78-70, in the finale to a cap an 8-1 run over four days, including Saturday morning and afternoon quarterfinal and semifinal decisions.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – A likely head-up matchup between two of the better “shooting guards” in all of high school basketball highlights the opening round of playoff action Saturday morning to start the final day of the NBPA Top 100 Camp.

Hooking up on Court 1 at 10:45 will be the “Rockets” vs. the “Lakers”, with the “Celtics” taking on the “Warriors” at the same time on Court 2 and ninth- and 10^th-seeds in the “Spurs” and the “Bucks” playing on Court 3.

The final two first-round games, at 11:45, have the “Heat” vs.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Thursday’s second day of game action during the National Basketball Players’ Association Top 100 Camp proved another showcase for some of the top players from the national high school Class of 2021.

Three players who were freshmen this past season – Patrick Baldwin Jr., Terrence Clarke and Moussa Cisse – have more than held up to the competition of players as much as three years older than themselves as the camp heads into its third day of play Friday in the John Paul Jones Arena on the campus of the University of Virginia.

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – As Dhamir Bishop and Donta Scott demonstrated so abundantly Wednesday during the first day of play in the NBPA Top 100 Camp, the Philadelphia Imhotep Charter High offense should once again be very difficult to contain during the 2018-19 season.

The seniors-to-be averaged 25.0 and 18.0 points per game, respectively, while leading the Bulls and 76ers to a pair of wins apiece in the University of Virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena.

The 6-foot-5 Bishop came out launching – and sinking – deep jumpers Wednesday afternoon during his team’s 95-61 pasting of the Lakers, hitting nine of 15 shots from the field (including three of nine from behind the arc) to finish with 23 points.

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