Frank Burlison

The Eastvale Roosevelt and Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High boys’ basketball teams meet for the second time this season Saturday, with a CIF Southern Section Open Division championship the prize when they tip off at 6:30 Saturday night in Ontario’s Toyota Arena.

But the clash between the 31-2 Mustangs and 26-6 Knights is just one of six Southern Section title games that will be played in the building, beginning with the 9:30 a.m. boys’ 4AA game pitting Ramona (26-6) and Garden Grove’s Santiago (21-11).

Things wrap when Ontario Christian (28-1) and Etiwanda (25-4) teams hook up in the girls’ Open final at 8:30.

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EASTVALE –  For the third time in as many tries over the past 14 months Tuesday night, the Roosevelt High boys’ basketball team edged its St. John Bosco counterpart in a high-stakes matchup.

The first showdowns came in the Dec. 30 Platinum Division championship games of the Platinum Division of the past two Classic at Damien tournaments.

Tuesday night’s 58-51 win over the visiting Braves had something even more tangible for the Mustangs than championship, all-tournament and Most Outstanding Player plaques from California’s most prestigious tournament:

It punched their ticket into Saturday night’s CIF Southern Section Open Division championship game against Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks in Ontario’s Toyota Arena.

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LONG BEACH – There is another batch of NBA “offspring” on their way to Southern California high schools  . . .

Two of those will be in high school in the fall as freshmen.

Another is currently in sixth grade, meaning – barring a “hold-back year” that so many male and female athletes and their families opt for – he won’ be a high school freshman until the 2027-28 school year.

Each of those impressed during the Saturday-Sunday Pangos Junior High All-American Camp that drew about 140 participants at McBride High.

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NEWPORT BEACH – Sage Hill High’s boys basketball program earned its second CIF Southern Section championship appearance in three years Saturday night in the same grind-it-out fashion that carried the Lightning to its first three playoff wins this season.

Led by the dominance of six-foot-10 Jackson Cryst, Coach D’Cean Bryant’s team edged visiting San Gabriel Academy, 45-43, in a Division 3AA semifinal.

The Lightning – who lost to Long Beach Jordan (68-57) in the 4A title two years ago in Bryant’s first season as the program’s head coach – will face Palmdale Knight for the 3AA crown next Saturday at Toyota Arena in Ontario or Edison High in Huntington Beach.

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LOS ALAMITOS – In 2007, Nate Berger was a sophomore forward in the Los Alamitos High boys’ basketball program when the Griffins beat Redondo Union in the CIF Southern Section 1-A title game.

It took 18 seasons, but the Griffins – after knocking off visiting Crean Lutheran, 82-57, Friday night – are finally returning to a Southern Section championship game.

They’ll play the winner of Saturday’s Santa Barbara at Mira Costa clash next Saturday – March 1 – in the Toyota Arena in Ontario.

And Berger – who mostly played junior varsity during the 2006-7 season – has had considerably more impact on the Griffins return to a title game than he did 18 years ago:

He’s his alma mater’s head coach.

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