Frank Burlison

The 2012-13 Southern California high school hoops season gets underway in earnest with the usual litany of top-flight tournaments this week.

My travel plans will take me to at least four of those this week (six days, beginning tonight), where I will see a large number of the best teams AND players in the Southland.

Those include the 61^st Pacific Shores Tournament (at Redondo Union High); the 9^th Rose City Roundball Classic (at Pasadena High); the Diablo Inferno (at Mission Viejo High); and the inaugural “Tip-Off at the Empire” (held on both the Corona Centennial and Etiwanda campuses).

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ANAHEIM, Ca. – Less than an hour or so later, 40 minutes or so west, a couple of Pacific 12 Conference programs suffered losses on their home courts.

But, during the championship game of the DirecTV Classic, another team representing the conference took care of business in most efficient fashion.

Coach Mike Montgomery’s California Golden Bears played a mostly outstanding 40 minutes while improving to 6-0 with their 78-58 victory over the Pacific Tigers of the Big West Conference.

The Tigers were outstanding while upsetting first Xavier (70-67) and then Saint Mary’s (76-66) in the first two rounds of the eight-team tournament.

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NEWARK, Ca. – Those who hung out in the Newark Memorial High gymnasium for nearly 12 hours on Saturday were paid off over the final 2 ½ of those, big time, for the effort spent.

And it’s difficult to imagine a more scintillating beginning to a high school basketball season than was offered up by the sixth NorCal TipOff Classic.

Event CEO Gerry Freitas knew he had assembled a nifty seven-game field for the annual event which serves as a proper way to get the hoops season – boys’ style – off and running in the Bay Area.

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LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Friday night’s games in the Global Sports Classic in the Thomas & Mack Center provided more than enough post-Thanksgiving hoops action for those looking to recover from turkey comas.

And, although the major of the 16,000-plus in attendance headed home disappointed, the capper to the even – Oregon’s 83-79 upset of host UNLV – was as entertaining a game as can be hoped for in November.

The 40 minutes of action demonstrated plenty to leave both head coaches pleased about what is in store for their clubs – even if one of them had to endure his first loss of the season.

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ANAHEIM, Ca. – The first day of DirecTV Classic action began with an upset and nearly closed on the same note nearly 10 hours later Thursday night.

Pacific opened things in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena by edging Xavier, 70-67.

Then, in the fourth game of the event, Cal trailed by nine points with about eight minutes to go before digging ever-so-deeply to pull out a 73-70 victory.

On a night when Cal standout Allen Crabbe was held to two points in the first half (he came through with 13 after intermission), backcourt mates Justin Cobbs and Brandon Smith came through down the stretch to help Crabbe mount the comeback.

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