Frank Burlison

   REDONDO BEACH, Ca. – The Sacramento Sheldon High boys’ basketball squad represented the northern portion of California quite well Saturday night at Redondo Union High in the finale of the eight games played Saturday during the second and final day of the sixth Take Flight Challenge.

  The Huskies were in control pretty much the entire game while knocking off Bishop Montgomery (No. 6 in last week’s BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25), 63-57, after leading by as many as 16 points in the second half.

   There was a brutal portion of the game, however, as the Huskies’ 6-foot-11 Joshua Morgan (who signed with Long Beach State in November), suffered an injury to his left leg while setting a screen with 5:46 to go in the second quarter and his team up by a point.

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The No.’s 3- and 18-ranked teams in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25 will play in the 8 o’clock finale in the six-game Westchester High Challenge Saturday on the Comets’ campus.

   The Comets improved to 13-1 and the No. 18 Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits to 12-3, respectively, with wins at the Take Flight Challenge at Redondo High Friday night.

   Westchester (led by Jordan Brinson, all-L.A. City as a junior) and Poly have a couple of the very best backcourts in the west.

   Brinson (pictured) and the Jackrabbits’ Justin Rene were the Most Valuable Players in tournaments in South Carolina and Arkansas last week.

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  REDONDO BEACH, Ca. – Two of the best bucket-getters in all of high school basketball poured in 43 and 36 points, respectively, Friday during the opening of the 6^th annual Take Flight Challenge at Redondo Union.

   But although Duke-bound Boogie Ellis (21 points coming in the fourth quarter) and future UCLA Bruin Jaime Jaquez Jr. (16 in the final eight minutes) kept attacking the rim to the final buzzer, their teams came out on the L side of the ledger.

   The 6-foot-3 Ellis was held to two of 11 from the field and five of eight from the free-throw line as San Diego Mission Bay fell behind Long Beach Poly by 20 points at intermission.

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  REDONDO BEACH – The sixth annual Take Flight Challenge will be held Friday and Saturday at Redondo Union High, with many of the west’s best teams and players on display.

  Twelve boys’ games and a girls’ contest (the host Sea Hawks and Long Beach Poly at 6 p.m. on Friday) will be played, beginning with Friday afternoon, 3 o’clock clash between L.A. City program Birmingham and Henderson (NV) Liberty.

  The final game of the event tips at 8:30 Saturday night when Bishop Montgomery (No.

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   LAGUNA NIGUEL – The Sierra Canyon and Rancho Christian boys’ teams ended the 2018 portion of the 2018-19 season the same way they began it – as the No.’s 1 and 2 teams in the BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California Top 25.

   The Trailblazers and Eagles captured championships Saturday night in the most prestigious post-Christmas tournaments in the West – and, maybe, beyond – with Sierra Canyon knocking off talented (if somewhat under-achieving) University of Ft. Lauderdale in Oregon’s Les Schwab Invitational, and Rancho Christian toppling now-No.

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