Frank Burlison

LONG BEACH – A year ago at this time,  Jaden Erami and Kayleb Kearse were the best players on the Bosco Tech and Serra high school boys basketball teams.

Tuesday night, at St. Anthony High, they helped the St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy program pull out a huge win against one of its biggest roadblocks to another Del Rey League championship.

Erami (a 6-foot-1 senior) nailed a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining to put the game into overtime, and then he and Kearse (a 5-9 junior) put the finishing touches on the Warriors’  88-85 decision against the host Saints.

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   LAGUNA NIGUEL – Week III of the boys’ basketball season wrapped Saturday night.

Although there is  some high-quality tournament (notably, at St. John Bosco) and “showcase” (ditto, at Beverly Hills) action involving multiple members in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal ratings, it’s a “calm before the (hoops) storm” kind of deal this week.

Three events (the Dec. 18-21 Tarkanian Classic; the Dec. 26-30 Classic at Damien; and the Jan. 2-4 HoopHall West/Tournament of Champions in Arizona), along with the Mission and Trinity League competition, will largely dictate what shape and look the CIF Southern Section Open and Division I (and, maybe II) playoff fields take when the computer spits them out in February.

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REDONDO BEACH – Trailing by six points midway through the second quarter, the Harvard-Westlake Wolverines boys’ basketball team smashed a two-headed hammer on Owyhee, pulling away from the defending state champion from Idaho, 74-51, Saturday night at Redondo Union High during the final day of the Air Jordan/Take Flight Challenge

Nikolas Khamenia scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in the fourth quarter for David Rebibo’s 7-0 crew and grabbed eight rebounds and dished four assists while junior guard Joe Sterling – held without a shot in the first quarter and getting his first bucket 1:22 before intermission – scored 12 of his 18 points in the third quarter.

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REDONDO BEACH – The JSerra Lions overcame Goodyear (AZ) Millennium’s 15 3-point baskets, and a 14-point, first-half deficit, to dig out a 63-61 victory Friday night during Day I of the Jordan Brand/Take Flight Challenge at Redondo Union High,

Seven games were played Friday – four in the school’s main gymnasium and the others in its spacious auxiliary gym.

Action resumes Saturday morning 9 o’clock (with a girls’ game between Crossroads and Narbonne in the aux gym) and 9:30 (St. Monica vs. Legacy Christian in a boys game in the main gym).

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REDONDO BEACH – Harvard-Westlake and Redondo Union’s forceful victories, and Mayfair’s championship win over St. Monica, highlighted Thursday’s final day of the Ryse Williams/PAC Shores boys basketball event.

There’s two more days of high-caliber high school basketball set to tip off Friday afternoon (3:30) at Redondo Union High, via the 23-game Jordan Brand Take Flight Challenge/Powered by Morgan Stanley.

Action begins with the Serra vs. Palos Verdes clash in the school’s auxiliary gymnasium, with play starting at 4 o’clock in the main gym with two other South Bay-based foes, Rolling Hills Prep and St.

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