Frank Burlison

  LAS VEGAS – The Federal Way High Eagles basketball team ran its record to 9-0 Thursday evening.

  And it can go to 10-0 with a third consecutive victory over one of California’s best squads Friday night at Bishop Gorman High.

  The Eagles held off Chino Hills (49-45) in a Thursday quarterfinal to earn a Friday night (6:40) hook-up with Temecula Rancho Christian.

  Rancho Christian – also nicknamed the Eagles, by the way – rallied from a nine-point deficit in the first half to knock off Aurora (CO) Grandview, 63-55.

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  LAS VEGAS –Southern California-based high school boys basketball programs were 4-0 in the seven Tarkanian Classic games played Wednesday in the Orleans Hotel Arena.

   Six of those games were in the Platinum (top) Division, with Orange Lutheran (59-50 over Little Rock Hall), Rancho Christian (73-56 against Philadelphia Constitution) and Chino Hills (knocking off Ft. Lauderdale Dillard, 72-55) the SoCal squads advancing to the quarterfinals in that division Thursday at Bishop Gorman.

   The one Nike Division game played in the building featured enough smoke from the offensive fireworks ignited by two players to choke the small crowd in the Orleans Arena.

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   LAGUNA NIGUEL – Some of Southern California’s best high school basketball teams will be in Las Vegas and Hawaii this week, with potential semifinal showdowns involving four of them during high-profile tournaments.

   *Rancho Christian(No. 2 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California Top 25) is joined by Chino Hills (No. 10) and Orange Lutheran (No. 17) in the Platinum Division of the Tarkanian Classic, which tips off Wednesday in the Orleans Hotel Arena and continues over the next three days at Bishop Gorman High.

   Rancho Christian and Chino Hills are in the upper bracket of the division, and could meet in a Friday night semifinal at Bishop Gorman.

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CARLSBAD, Ca. – The Bishop Montgomery High basketball team has been, pretty much, without two starters and a gifted transfer since the first week of the season.

  But the Knights of Coach Doug Mitchell keep chugging along with the same approach that has made them one of the better programs in California for a good long while.

  And that was the case again Saturday night when two seniors, Will Crawford and Josh Vazquez, turned in the kind of performances we  have rightly come to expect from the four-year varsity veterans.

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  BELLFLOWER – There wasn’t anything approaching suspense during the three games played at St. John Bosco High Monday evening during Day I of the boys’ basketball tournament it is co-hosting with Gahr High.

   *In Game 1, Loyola turned a half-court advantage of eight points into 24 points after three quarters before cruising past Covina, 75-53.

  *Game 2 saw the Long Beach Poly Jackrabbits get off to a bit of a wobbly start (trailing 8-1) before they kicked things into overdrive while having their way with Palisades, 80-41.

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