Frank Burlison

LAS VEGAS – It could be a preview of a February – or March – Open Division boys basketball playoff game in Southern California.

Even if that doesn’t prove the case,  the Eastvale Roosevelt vs. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame clash at 4:30 Saturday afternoon in the Bishop Gorman gymnasium should be nothing short of a sizzling matchup between two of better teams in Southern California – and beyond.

It will also decide the winner of the Platinum Division of one of the country’s top pre-Christmas events, the 12^th Tarkanian Classic.

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LAS VEGAS – Three Southern California-based boys’ basketball programs will be joined by a gifted club from Utah in Friday night’s Platinum Division semifinals of the 12^th Tarkanian Classic.

In the first, played at 7 o’clock in the Orleans Hotel Arena, the Eastvale Roosevelt Mustangs – No. 2 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30 – faces No. 5 Redondo Union of Redondo Beach.

In the 8:30 clash, No. 3 Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks takes on Layton (UT) Christian Academy.

All the Tarkanian Classic games are live-streamed and archived by BallerTV.

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LAS VEGAS – The No.’s 2, 3 and 5 boys’ basketball teams in Southern California cruised to first-round wins in the Platinum Division Wednesday at Bishop Gorman during the first day of the Tarkanian Classic.

Eastlake Roosevelt (No. 2 in this week’s BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30) started things off as Brayden Burries hit five 3s in the first quarter against San Diego St. Augustine, and the final eight minutes were played in running clock-mode, 79-36.

Guards Issac Williamson and Myles Walker were whistled for a couple of fouls apiece in the opening minutes but the Saints were all but helpless in defending Burries – which has often been the case this season for teams trying to check him.

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LAS VEGAS – Bishop Gorman High will be the “epicenter”, of sorts, for Southern California high school boys basketball this week.

The “traditional high schools” portion of this week’s Tarkanian Classic is set to tip Wednesday afternoon.

And the event’s top (Platinum) 16-team division includes the No.’s 2 (Roosevelt), 3 (Notre Dame), 5 (Redondo Union), 11 (St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy), 21 (Campbell Hall) and 25 (Centennial) in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal ratings.

Rounding out that division are two other California programs, L.A. Westchester and San Diego St.

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LEHI, UTAH – Less than 24 hours after holding on to win in its toughest test of the season, the Harvard-Westlake High boys basketball team ran into figurative “buzzsaw” early Saturday evening at Lehi High on the final day of the Holiday Hoopfest.

And it came in the form of a Timpview squad that had been limited to 39 points Friday night on its homecourt in Provo, in a three-point loss to another Utah-based program, Layton Christian Academy.

But eight on-court minutes into their game with California’s two-time defending State Open Division champion, the Thunderbirds had blasted the Wolverines’ usually stout perimeter defense for seven 3s – the last of those on a release from near mid-court by Mason Ford which went thru the rim at the buzzer sounded for a 12-point advantage.

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