Frank Burlison

DUBLIN – If you’re in the market for “one-stop shopping” for an early-season look at some of the best that Northern California has to offer in boys’ high school basketball, there is only one option:

Gerry Freitas’ 17^th NorCal Tip-Off Classic, set for Saturday, has a nine-game field spread across approximately 14 hours in the Dublin High gymnasium.

And, as a bonus, two of Southern California’s top teams, Redondo Union (No. 7 in the BurlisonOnBasketball preseason Top 70) and Crespi (No. 16), are also among the 18 squads on display during the post-Thanksgiving Festival of high-level hoops.

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SANTA ANA – The offensive efficiency – and long-range, jump-shooting accuracy – of sophomore Hunter Caplan, and the high-jumping and high-energy junior duo of big guys was just enough to allow Crean Lutheran’s boys’ basketball team to prevail in its first real test of the season Wednesday evening at Foothill High.

The 6-foot-3 Caplan (pictured/a transfer from Brentwood Academy) scored 19 points – including three 3s – with four assists and three rebounds  to help the Saints go to 2-0 with their 57-54 victory over Bakersfield Christian during a “Feast Week” game.

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CERRITOS and SANTA ANA – The 2024-25 debut for the Mater Dei High basketball team got off to a nifty start Tuesday night at Foothill High despite missing two senior starters because of knee (Blake Davidson) and hip (Owen Verna) ailments, respectively.

Behind juniors Luke Barnett and Malloy Smith, they methodically moved to a 14-point advantage early in the second quarter during a “Feast Week” contest with defending San Diego Section Open champion Carlsbad.

The rest of the game wasn’t quite so nifty for Gary McKnight’s Monarchs, whose individual and team defense were near-negligible 73-70 loss in overtime.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Thursday carves Week II of the Southern California Boys’ basketball season into three- and two-day “entrées”.

Thanksgiving, aka, “Turkey Day” .  . . “carved”, “entrées” . . . get it?

Monday-thru-Wednesday, followed by Friday and Saturday make up Orange County’s “Feast Week”, with at least four games on each of those days at Marina in Huntington Beach and Foothill in Santa Ana.

Some of the gravy, uh, groovy, matchups during the event (it’s “showcase”, pre-set opponents each day, not tournament format) include San Clemente – No.

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CORONA – My 23-game, seven-high school gymnasium schedule for the first week of the boys’ high school hoops season wrapped with the eight-game, BattleZone Showcase over 13 hours Saturday at Centennial High.

And the initial six days of the 2024-25 season certainly wrapped up in nifty fashion.

The final two games Saturday night were superb in both quality of teams and their players, and with the tenacity of play that was on display.

*In Game No. 7, Eastvale Roosevelt (No. 3 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Preseason Top 70) trailed Phoenix Sunnyslope by 10 points late in the first half before Brayden Burries kicked things up a couple of notches after intermission to give the Mustangs a 68-51 victory.

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