Frank Burlison

LA VERNE – The No.’s 1- and 2-ranked teams from Northern California were among the among the Platinum Division’s eight first-round winners Wednesday during the second day of the 7^th Classic at Damien.

Richmond Salesian and Concord De La Salle — each 11-0 — are joined in Thursday’s second round on the winners’ side of the bracket by 11-1 St. John Bosco (set to play American Fork of Utah at 8:30 p.m.); 10-6 Corona Centennial (facing Salesian, at 7, in a rematch of a game played in Idaho on Dec.

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LA VERNE – Sophomore guard Jason Crowe Jr. scored 46 points to help Lynwood High pull away from Palisades to win their Silver Division game  Tuesday during the opening day of the 7^th Classic at Damien.

There are 128 teams, spread over eight, 16-team brackets – on and near the Damien High campus – competing thru Saturday night in the west’s top post-Christmas boys’ basketball event.

Teams in the Silver, Bronze, Green, Copper, and Iron divisions played their first-round games Tuesday.

Competition opens in the Platinum, Gold, and Diamond divisions Wednesday, with the first two brackets played in the Damien Athletic and Event Centers, and the Diamond games played down the street at Ramona Middle School.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Twenty members of the updated BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California Top 30 boys’ teams are among the 128 squads set to play in the 7^th annual Classic at Damien, which tips off Tuesday morning and runs through Saturday evening.

Games will be played in the Athletic and Event Centers on the Damien campus in La Verne, as well as on other near-by campuses.

First-round action in the Silver, Bronze, Green, Copper, and Iron divisions begins Tuesday morning, with the Platinum, Gold, and Diamond divisions — which include 19 of the teams in the Top 30 — following Wednesday.

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LAS VEGAS — The Downey St. Pius X/St. Matthias High boys’ basketball team needed three significant second-half comebacks to earn its way into the Thursday evening Platinum Division championship game of the 12^th Tarkanian Classic.

But once they got there, the Warriors wasted little time in exerting their collective will on things, going on a 10-zip blitz to start things en route to their 89-79 victory over Scottsdale Desert Mountain at Bishop Montgomery High.

The wire-to-wire victory capped a remarkable week for Coach Donte Archie’s team, which improved to 8-1 following wins over Henderson (NV) Coronado, Sandy (UT) Alta, San Diego St.

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LAS VEGAS – Downey’s St. Pius X/St. Matthias squad is “next up” Thursday evening at Bishop Gorman High in the queue to take its pop at defending the basketball savant that is Scottsdale (AZ) Desert Mountain’s Kaden House.

And the thing is, the Warriors — while playing House & Co. in the 12^th Tarkanian Classic Platinum Division title game at 4:30 — could do a better job at it than any of the Wolves’ first 10 opponents have done yet still fail to contain him and knock off his team.

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