Frank Burlison

RANCHO SANTA MAGARITA – The St. John Bosco High boys’ basketball players and coaching staff figure to do plenty of in-air snoozing early Wednesday morning.

That’s because the Braves, some nine and a half hours after wrapping up their 51-45 Trinity League victory over host Santa Margarita Tuesday night, were due to depart via an LAX to Chicago American Airlines flight at 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Coach Matt Dunn’s team, after improving to 16-3 overall and 3-1 in league, is bound for Springfield, MO (via a connecting flight from Chicago) to open play Thursday night against Central of Springfield in a first-round game of the eight-team, Bass Pro Tournament of Champions at Missouri State University.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – The focal points of Tuesday night’s Southern California high school hoops’ action will be in Corona and Rancho Santa Margarita:

*In the updated BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 SoCal teams’ pecking order, Eastvale Roosevelt and Corona Centennial stand at No.’s 2 and 9, respectively.

And they’ll hook up for one of likely two regular-season meetings when the Roosevelt Mustangs visit the Centennial Huskies for a 7 o’clock Big VIII League clash.

The league no longer has a “round-robin” regular-season schedule (no more playing one another, home and away) but will have a post-season tournament to determine its CIF Southern Section playoff pecking order – ala the Mission League over the past few seasons.

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REDONDO BEACH – On a Saturday where there were multiple high-profile “showcase” boys basketball games played across Southern California, the region’s top two teams did their part to demonstrate did enough to show why they sit in those positions during the Take Flight Challenge at Redondo Union High.

In two of the 14 games played in the two Redondo gymnasiums, Harvard-Westlake (No. 1 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30) held off No. 23 Heritage Christian, 74-62, while No. 2 Eastvale Roosevelt scored the final nine points in the closing two minutes to knock off Central California’s top squad, Santa Maria St.

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SANTA ANA – The Mater Dei High boys’ basketball team did its part Friday night to set the stage for a Trinity League showdown with its St. John Bosco counterpart Saturday evening at the Crypto.com Arena.

The host Monarchs never trailed while improving its league and overall records to 2-0 and 16-1, respectively, with their 78-67 victory over visiting JSerra.

Coach Gary McKnight’s squad (No. 6 in the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 to the Lions’ No. 4) got 14 to 17 points from four players.

Junior  forward Brandon Benjamin leading the way while hitting six of nine from the field and all five free throws and grabbing six rebounds with five assists and two blocked shots.

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Twenty-four of the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30 boys’ basketball teams will be in action Saturday during seven “showcase” events scattered throughout Southern California.

Two of those – No.’s 3 St. John Bosco and 6 Mater Dei – will be in a key league clash, playing their Trinity contest in the Crypto.com Arena (at 6 o’clock) as part of the five-game Catholic Coastal Classic.

The Braves (Servite) and Monarchs (No. 4 JSerra) will have play host to Trinity League games Friday night before their showdown less than 24 hours later.

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