Frank Burlison

LAGUNA NIGUEL ­– And then there were two . . .

Pardon the trite Agatha Christie reference cliché in reminding you that there are just two weeks remaining in Southern California’s high school hoops regular season.

And a significant two days in that stretch take place Friday and Saturday in Santa Ana, where the Mater Dei High program will play host to the 29^th Nike Extravaganza.

Fifteen games will be played – six of those, including a Mater Dei-Esperanza girls’ clash, on Friday.

Ten of the boys’ teams scheduled to play in the event reside in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30 ­– five of those among the top 10.

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ONTARIO, Ca. – The annual State Preview Classic, presented by SBLive, has another outstanding boys’ basketball, nine-game field set for Saturday and scheduled to tip at 9 a.m.

Included among those contests are three in which both teams are rated in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30, with five others having one Top 30 squad.

The most significant of the games – relative to its potential impact upon the makeup and seeding for the CIF Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division playoff field – is set for 4:30, when No.

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REDONDO BEACH – The Redondo Union High boys’ basketball spotted its Mira Costa counterpart a 10-point advantage in the first quarter Tuesday night in their Ocean League game.

But the host Sea Hawks – with two freshmen starters playing significant roles – stabilized things by intermission and used a 14-point edge in the third quarter to come away with a 60-45 victory.

Six-foot-five sophomore S.J. Madison (pictured/photo courtesy of Greg Stein) led Redondo (17-4 overall and 5-0 in league) with a game-high 20 points – 16 of those coming off intermission, including three 3s.

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BELLFLOWER – The Leuzinger High boys’ basketball team continued to look like the front-runner in the Ocean League – and a threat to make a nice run in the CIF SS Division 3AA playoffs – Monday during the MLK Dream Classic at St. John Bosco High.

Coach Arturo Jones’ Olympians knocked off the King/Drew Eagles, 67-65, in the last of the eight games played in the Braves’ gymnasium.

Jones’ squad improved to 15-7 (it’s 4-0 in league play) with its fourth win in a row and eighth in its past nine games.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Monday is a day to honor one of the most influential men in American history.

And, if you’re of the notion, you can attend any of a multitude of high school basketball “one-day events” that carry some form of Martin Luther King Jr.’s name – and “Dream” tagged with it.

If you’re in about the San Francisco or East Bay areas, Concord De La Salle High is playing host to the best of those, the eight-game “Martin Luther King Classic”.

That has a bunch of high-level matchups involving Northern and Central California’s top teams, notably Carmichael (near Sacramento) Jesuit vs.

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