Frank Burlison

FULLERTON – The No.’s 5 and 6 teams in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 70 will hook up in Saturday night’s (7:30) 7^th Rumble on the Hill championship game at Sunny Hills High.

Suffice to say, there was much more doubt about No. 6 reaching the title affair than there was No. 5.

In the second semifinal Friday night, No. 5 – the Damien Spartans – jumped out to a 17-0 advantage after one quarter against the La Habra Highlanders.

And that was more than enough cushion to hold off a sizzling second-half performance from junior guard Acen Jimenez, 64-45, behind 7-foot Nate Garcia’s 26 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.

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WHITTIER – Only two La Habra High basketball players scored in the second half of the Highlanders’ Rumble on the Hill Tournament game with Orange Lutheran Wednesday night at California High.

And one of players’ points, from senior Jaedon Anderson, came via four free throws in the final two minutes.

But if La Habra Coach Aaron Riekenberg didn’t appear particularly stressed over the final 16 minutes of playing time, it was because he had the kid wearing uniform No. 24 on the floor.

And that youngster was Acen Jimenez, who – for the third night in a row and his team’s 3-0 start – continued to demonstrate why he’s one of the elite Class of 2026 guards in Southern California.

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PLAYA DEL REY – A Tuesday night matchup between the projected top two boys basketball teams in the L.A. City Section was accompanied by a packed gymnasium, plenty of “star power” – on and off the floor – and a result that wasn’t secured until the final buzzer.

In a mild “upset”, Chatsworth edged the host Westchester Comets, 58-56, in the fourth of four games played on Tuesday in the Westside Tip-Off Classic.

Westchester (No. 20) and Chatsworth (28) were the two highest ranked L.A. City programs in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 70.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Five players now playing major college basketball helped the Harvard-Westlake boys’ program win consecutive State Open Division championships.

Jump-shooter deluxe Brady Dunlap (St. John’s) and powerful center Jacob Huggins (Princeton) were key elements for the David Rebibo-coached team that knocked off Santa Maria St. Joseph, 76-65, in Sacramento on March 11 of 2023 to cap a 33-2 season.

And, again in Sacramento last March 9, the Wolverines held of Richmond Salesian, 50-45, to finish 33-3, and bid farewell to State Player of the Year Trent Perry (UCLA) and fellow seniors Robert Hinton (Harvard) and Christian Horry (UCLA).

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Onto the next 10 . . .

No.’s 11 thru 20 of the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal preseason boys Top 70 consists of 10 teams that are capable of landing into the Top 10 before the end of December.

That group includes three programs that played in either the CIF Southern Section (Saint Pius X/Saint Mathias and Corona Centennial) or L.A. City (Westchester) Open Division playoffs last season.

Three others (Heritage Christian, Windward and Rolling Hills Prep) also played in Southern Regional competition.

*The SPX/SM Warriors suffered significant losses to graduation (including all-CIF SS Open choice Tyrone Riley, starting at the University of San Francisco) and transfer (guard Tariq Bridges to Millikan).

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