Frank Burlison

LONG BEACH – The sixth annual Ron Massey Memorial Tip-Off Classic is set for Saturday at Long Beach City College.

Seven games will be played (beginning at 10 a.m.) in honor of Massey, who died of heart failure at 64 on April 8 of 2014.

Massey is a legend in high school coaching circles, not only in Long Beach but throughout Southern California.

He a teach and head basketball coach at Jordan High for 28 years (retiring in 2010), with his Panthers’ squad winning more than 500 games to go with three CIF Southern Section championships.

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REDONDO BEACH – To borrow the moniker of the guy who played on seven NBA championship teams, the St. Anthony High basketball team had its own “Big Shot Rob” Saturday night at Redondo Union High during the seventh Take Flight Challenge.

But, to modify the tag hung on Robert Horry – mostly during his three-championship stint with the Lakers – the Saints’ version should be  “Big Shot Lo” after 6-foot-4 junior Lorenzo Marsh nailed the jump shots that both extended the game by a four-minute overtime and gave his team its 58-57 win over Harvard-Westlake.

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REDONDO BEACH – The capper of Friday’s play in the Take Flight Challenge at Redondo Union High featured a dazzling individual performance to help get the 2020 portion of the season off to a rousing start.

With the announcement of the McDonald’s All-American team a little less than three weeks away, Josh Christopher’s on-court effort in Mayfair’s 73-65 win over Bishop Montgomery was compelling evidence as to why he should be one of the 24 players on the squad.

The 6-foot-4 Christopher spent nearly every moment with the ball in his hands going downhill – and, in modern hoops vernacular, that’s a heck of a good thing – at any and all Knights’ defenders who dared tried to cut off his path to the lane and rim while going for 44 points.

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St. Bernard, St. Francis and Westchester are among the high schools joining Redondo Union (Take Flight Challenge) and Bishop Montgomery (Winter Real Run Classic) playing host to “showcase” boys basketball events Saturday.

The Vikings (No. 15 in the latest BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25), who take on Long Beach Poly in the Take Flight Challenge Friday, play host to the South Bay Challenge and face King/Drew at 4:30.

No. 10 Windward wraps up the event against Hillcrest of Riverside.

At. St. Francis, the Golden Eagles are the home school for the New Year’s Shootout and cap the even with a game against Grant at 5:30.

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REDONDO BEACH – Eight teams in the current BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California Top 25 are among those participating during the Friday and Saturday Take Flight Challenge at Redondo Union High.

The event also features what could prove to be some terrific “individual” matchups, notably when Long Beach Poly faces No. 15 St. Bernard (7 p.m.), each of which features one of the better juniors anywhere in Peyton Watson (pictured) and Reese Dixon-Waters, respectively.

There are head-up clashes up ranked squads on Saturday, with No. 6 Etiwanda (third place in the Classic at Damien’s Platinum Division) facing No.

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