Frank Burlison

LONG BEACH, Ca. – Saturday’s Day I of the second Ron Massey Memorial Fall Hoops Classic featured nine games’ and about 11 ½ hours worth of some mostly terrific Southland high school competition.

And the last four of those played set the table for what could be a spectacular Day II on Sunday at Jordan High.

After five “showcase” games were played Saturday, several of the very best 2015-16 teams in Southern California along with Nevada power Las Vegas Bishop Gorman hooked up in consecutive games of the “tournament” portion of the event.

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LONG BEACH, Ca. – The second annual Ron Massey Memorial Fall Hoops Classic is set for Saturday and Sunday at Jordan High – the campus on which Massey served as the boys’ varsity basketball coach for 28 years.

And it features a field of teams from some of the very best programs in Southern California and will serve as an ex facto “two-day preview to the 2015 CIF Southern Section playoffs.”

Five “showcase games” are scheduled, beginning at 11 o’clock Saturday morning.

An eight-team playoff – made of players from Nevada State powerhouse Las Vegas Bishop Gorman and those from seven programs likely to be participants in the 2016 Southern Section Open Division playoffs – tips at 5 p.m.

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REDONDO BEACH, Ca. – The Pacific Shores Tournament will once again serve as the “tip off”, of sorts, to the Southern California high school basketball season.

The 64^th version of the event, with Redondo Union High once again serving as tournament host via its two nifty gymnasiums, gets underway on Nov. 23 (a Monday) and wraps up five evenings later (Nov. 28).

The first-round matchups and tournament bracket haven’t been finalized yet.

But there is another terrific 16-team field, 13 of those coming from the CIF Southern Section schools and three others from the L.A.

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LAS VEGAS – The first-ever #EAT911 Showcase, held in the Tarkanian Center Friday evening, proved every bit the hit its producer could have hoped for.

It was a virtual up-close-and-personal look at the core players from the Bishop Gorman and Findlay Prep programs – with some other nifty prospects, from Las Vegas and other spots, on display as well.

With Atlanta-based trainer Mark Edwards and Tank Thornton (father of Duke freshman point guard Derryck Thornton) leading pre-games drill work and then doing the subbing in the “Frosh-Soph” and “Juniors-Seniors” games, multiple players stood out during the five-hour (give or take) event.

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CARLSBAD, Ca. – Approximately eight hours after it tipped off on Saturday morning, the first Crème’ of the County had all of the appearances of a success in the Army-Navy Academy’s Duffield Sports Center, located just a couple of blocks from the ocean.

The bulk of the better boys’ basketball players – in San Diego County – across the 8th thru senior classes – were on display during eight well-played, 50-minute games.

All things considered, the most impressive performer in the entire event was 6-foot-6, multiple-skilled Richard Polanco, who attends and plays for Army-Navy but is a citizen of the Dominican Republic who plays for its junior national program.

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