Frank Burlison

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – The St. John Bosco High team used an overpowering third quarter Wednesday night at JSerra High to demonstrate why it’s got the goods to repeat as the Trinity League champion and challenge for a CIF Southern Section Open Division title.

The visiting and No. 3-ranked (via the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30) Braves, after committing nine turnovers, trailed by three at intermission in the Trinity League opener with the No. 4 Lions.

But the Braves tighten the clamps, defensively, and dialed up their offensive execution in the third quarter, outscoring the hosts by 13 points without turning the ball over and pulling away for a 67-51 victory.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Harvard-Westlake, despite suffering its first loss to Miami Columbus Saturday night on a closing seconds rebound shot, maintains the top spot in the first 2024 version of the 2023-24 BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 SoCal team ratings.

The 2023 State Open Division champion Wolverines, who open Mission League play Friday night at Alemany, also have the BurlisonOnBasketball top senior for the 2023 portion of the season in USC-bound guard Trent Perry.

The No.’s 2 and 3 teams in the Top 30, Eastvale Roosevelt and St.

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LA VERNE – Division Most Outstanding Player Brayden Burries led a collective outstanding performance by Eastvale Roosevelt Saturday night, helping the Mustangs build a 16-point advantage before hanging on for a 68-65 win over St. John Bosco in the Platinum championship game of the 7^th Classic at Damien.

The title game capped four days of  superb play in the 16-team division, with overtime games in Friday night’s semifinals and a third-place game earlier Saturday in which Northern California’s top-team, Richmond Salesian (62-59 over the host Spartans) didn’t secure its victory until Xavier Clinton missed on a 3-pointer from the left corner as the buzzer sounded.

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LA VERNE – Coach Steve Singleton is going to put Friday’s celebration near the top of the most memorable birthdays he’s experienced – and not entirely because he turned the big five-oh, either.

It’s because the happy birthday song he was serenaded with late that night came almost immediately following his Eastvale Roosevelt High basketball team’s third consecutive gut-crunching Platinum Division victory in the 7^th Classic at Damien Tournament.

In the second semifinal that need an overtime to wrap up, Singleton’s Mustangs outlasted the host Damien Spartans, 76-71, with senior guard Darnez Slater giving his team its final push into Saturday night’s title game by way of an 11-point burst in the four-minute extra stanza.

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LA VERNE – Unbeaten Richmond Salesian will be joined by St. John Bosco, Eastvale Roosevelt and the host Spartans in Friday night’s Platinum Division championship semifinals of the 7^th Classic at Damien.

And, in one of the 128-team event’s other seven brackets, Downey St. Pius X/St. Matthias inched a round closer to another high-profile tournament title Thursday night.

OK, so let’s take a deep breath before taking a deep dive into some of the Thursday action and looking into what’s in store for Friday’s fourth day of the top “true high school”, post-Christmas event in the country .

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