Frank Burlison

NEW YORK, NY – What figures to be one of the travel ball circuit’s top circuits demonstrated exactly why that will be the case this spring and summer Friday night during the opening session of the Under Armour Association at Basketball City on the edge of Manhattan.

Six-foot-one Isaiah Washington (St. Raymond in the Bronx) and 6-5 Keith Williams (Brooklyn Bishop Loughlin) led New York’s New Heights on an 8-0 run to close out Southern California’s Earl Watson Elite, 63-58.

Williams (who finished with a game-high 24 points) hit a 12-foot, step-thru with a second on the shot clock (and about 30 seconds on the game clock) and a three-point edge then, after Earl Watson missed an attempt, Washington was fouled and sank the insurance free throws.

[Click to continue reading]

RENO – Saturday’s first-ever Talent out West Showcase – held at both Reno High and just down the street at the Pennington Boys and Girls Club – proved just that for lot high school basketball players in and around the city, as well as adjacent states.

The 75 or so athletes in attendance included among 20 seniors who have yet to decide upon college destinations.

The most notable of those included 6-foot-10 Octavian Corley (McQueen in Reno) and 6-7 Zach Williams (Galena in Reno).

Corley averaged 18.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocked shots per game this past season as his team finished 18-11.

[Click to continue reading]

SACRAMENTO – The Chino Hills High basketball team found itself down by 10 points six minutes into the game and trailing at intermission – by two points – for only the second time in 35 games this season Saturday night in the Sleep Train Arena.

I write that for those who might have forgotten those things after watching the final 16 minutes turn into the same kind of fast-paced, high-flying and – oh-so-often – breath-taking style play that the Huskies established as uniquely their own this season.

[Click to continue reading]

SACRAMENTO – The final half of the six California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) boys’ basketball championship games will be played in the Sleep Train Arena Saturday.

And action wraps up at 8 p.m. with the headliner of the Thursday-Saturday 12-game (girls included) schedule, the Open Division championship game pitting Southern representative Chino Hills and its Northern counterpart, Concord De La Salle.

The De La Salle is 31-2 in A.J. Kuhle’s first season as the head coach at his alma mater (Class of 2000), with only losses to Las Vegas Bishop Gorman (in a second-round, Dec.

[Click to continue reading]

SACRAMENTO – Each of the three California Interscholastic Federation boys’ championship games played Thursday in the Sleep Train Arena featured multiple standout performers.

Examples:

*The impressive efforts by freshmen Adam Campos (12 points and eight rebounds) and Kobe Keiner (a critical pair of free throws down the stretch) in Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame’s 55-50 victory over Playa del Rey St. Bernard in the Division V finale;

*Senior guard Robert Fuller’s 15-point, four-assist and two-steal effort that helped St. Bernard stay close throughout;

*Left-handed junior forward Tydus Verhoeven showed off his variety of skills while scoring 11 points with 12 rebounds and four assists as Manteca knocked off Chino Hills Ayala, 60-51, for the Division III championship;

*Ayala (which finished 33-4 and, like 29-6 Manteca, was playing in its first state title game) rallied from an early 17-point deficit to get to within three points early in the fourth quarter, got a strong effort by one of California’s best unsigned seniors, 6-5 John Edgar, who scored 21 points – with four 3s – to go with six rebounds and four steals;

*And 6-6 senior Mitchell Mykhaylov picked a perfect moment to turn in one of his best efforts for Encino Crespi, scoring 19 points with 13 rebounds in the Celts’ 68-53, Division I-championship win over Berkeley in the final game played Thursday night.

[Click to continue reading]