Frank Burlison

FULLERTON – The Damien and La Mirada boys’ basketball teams cruised into Saturday night’s championship showdown in the Rumble For Rosecrans with decisive semifinal victories at Sunny Hills High Friday night.

La Mirada remained unbeaten with its fourth consecutive blowout, knocking off La Serna, 65-45, behind the 25-point performance of freshman Gene Roebuck.

The Matadores were No. 19 in the BurlisonOnBasketball preseason SoCal Top 30.

Coach Randy Oronoz’s club will take on No. 6 Damien in the 7:30 championship game at Sunny Hills.

Coach Mike LeDuc’s Spartans improved to 4-0 while easing past Canyon, 76-34.

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LOS ANGELES — Wednesday night’s game was a long time coming for Eastvale Roosevelt High basketball players Brayden Burries and Issac Williamson.

And just how long .  . .

“Twenty-one months,” Williamson said before the question was finished, after he, Burries, and the rest of Coach Steve Singleton’s No. 5-ranked (via BurlisonOnBasketball) Mustangs cruised past L.A. City power Birmingham, 80-37, in a season opener at Westchester High during the third Westside Tip-Off Classic.

Burries (who scored 31 points with nine rebounds Wednesday night) and Williamson were freshmen standouts at Riverside Poly when the Bears lost to visiting St.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The kicks hit the hardwood on Monday with the official tip-off to the 2023-24 boys’ high school basketball season.

*Harvard-Westlake, led by four of the top six players from its 2023 State Open Division championship roster, begins the season atop the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 teams’ ranking.

Coach David Rebibo’s Wolverines are in action three times this week, playing host to Palos Verdes on Tuesday night.

They’ll be at Westchester Thursday and Saturday for games against Palisades and Carlsbad, respectively, as part of the Westside Tip-Off Classic.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Unlike many of his counterparts, Harvard-Westlake boys’ basketball coach David Rebibo didn’t send his team into “fall league” competition until a few weeks ago.

But when the 2023-24 Wolverines did take the court, notably at Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas (the Oct. 13-15 Border League); at St. Francis  in La Canada (the Oct. 20 Beat Cancer Challenge) and, this past Saturday, at Heritage Christian in Northridge (the Core Prep Fall Classic), they made this abundantly clear with the “real” season set to start on Nov.

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REDONDO BEACH — Redondo Union High will play host to Saturday and Sunday’s boys’ basketball Take Flight Challenge, with 25 varsity and lower-level games scheduled for the school’s two gymnasiums.

Four programs that participated in the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs last season — eventual state Open (Harvard-Westlake) and Division I (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame) championships, joined by St. Bernard and Bishop Montgomery) are part of the weekend field.

Also in the field is CIF SS D-5AA champion Bosco Tech, which opens action Saturday morning at 9 o’clock against Notre Dame.

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