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SPRINGFIELD, MA – With a little more than five minutes to go in its Spalding HoopHall Classic game Monday afternoon, the Sierra Canyon High boys’ basketball team seemed primed to make the cross-country trip back to the San Fernando Valley with a whole lot of momentum going into the remainder of its Mission League schedule.

But . . . that didn’t prove to be the case.

A spinning layup by junior Isaiah Elohim with 5:24 to go gave Coach Andre Chevalier’s team a 10-point advantage (42-32) over Miami Columbus in Springfield College’s Blake Arena.

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SPRINGFIELD, MA – Prolific Prep, the program based in California’s “wine country” (Napa, located about 50 miles north of San Francisco) that draws top-flight talent from everywhere, continued its dominance of other “prep school” competition – the nationwide – Sunday night during the Spalding Hoophall Classic at Springfield College.

Its record went to 21-zip, without much in the way of a fuss or muss from Westtown (located just outside of Philadelphia), 71-33, in a contest that was a competitive as the margin of victory suggests.

Five-foot-10 Trey Green, who signed with Xavier in November, scored 14 points with five rebounds and four assists.

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SPRINGFIELD, MA – There have been trips to Texas, Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and, finally, — with the nationally televised 66-62 victory over Camden of New Jersey Saturday night in the Spalding HoopHall Classic – Massachusetts.

And there were “in-state, road trips” to San Diego and Sacramento.

But the “barn-storming”, of sorts, isn’t quite over for Coach Josh Giles’ Corona Centennial basketball team.

“We’ve got to go to northern California next week (Saturday, for a game against Richmond Salesian in a multi-game event),” said Giles, after his team improved to 17-3 with the victory, over the team led by University of Kentucky recruits D.J.

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LA VERNE, CA – It’s taken a while for me to compile this list – the 112-team, five-day Classic at Damien ended on the night of Dec. 30, after all.

But, instead of labeling it procrastination, I prefer to call it well-thought out and reasoned analysis.

  Cool the smirks . . .

Anyway, here are my choices for the 13 players who most impressed me when I watched them play during the top “real high school” post-holiday tournament in the west.

First, the caveats:

*My selections came only from among the players I was able to watch from courtside.

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MISSION VIEJO, CA – If were wondering how many times the outcome of a basketball game can hang in the final 3.5 seconds of regulation, you’ve now a pretty good clue – assuming you were among those in the Capistrano Valley High gymnasium Wednesday night.

Eventually, the host Cougars prevailed over Tesoro, 62-60, with the aid of a four-minute overtime in the South Coast league boys’ opener.

Seniors Efe Gucoglu (a second-year exchange student from Turkey) and Jackson Gray – who, with his brother, Blake, was once enrolled at Tesoro – scored 22 and 21 points, respectively, as Coach Brian Mulligan’s team improved its overall record to 13-4.

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