Frank Burlison

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Southern California’s Corona Centennial and Studio City Harvard-Westlake boys basketball teams turned in potent performances on the final day of the HoopHall West Saturday at Chaparral high.

And, while smacking Las Vegas powerhouse Bishop Gorman (72-53) and a quality Arizona Ironwood club (76-49), Centennial and Harvard-Westlake seemed firmly on track for what may be showdowns in the CIF Southern Section’s and State Southern Regional’s Open Division playoffs in February and March.

In the first of seven games played Saturday, Harvard-Westlake tipped off against Ironwood at 10 a.m.,

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SCOTTSDALE, AZ – The top boys high school basketball team in Arizona thumped an opponent advertised as one of the best New York has to offer in the last of the five games played Friday at Chapparal High on the second day of the HoopHall West.

The Perry High Pumas (their campus is in another Phoenix suburb, Gilbert) made quick and oh-too-easy work of Cardinal Hayes, 78-47 – a final margin representative of the way the squad from Bronx was dominated.

Coach Sam Duane’s program extended its two-season, winning streak to 15 with its eighth victory of 2022-23 – an average margin of 39.4 points with the tightest decision coming in the 14-point margin vs.

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SCOTTSDALE, AZ. – A couple of teams laden with future college standouts set the stage for what should be a high-profile matchup Saturday night with impressive victories Thursday during the HoopHall West at Chaparral High.

Duncanville High (located in the Dallas suburb of the same name) fell behind by 15 points in the first quarter before pulling away down the stretch for a 69-58 win over Cardinal Hayes of New York City.

And, in the game played before, Southern California-based Notre Dame (its campus is in Sherman Oaks in the San Fernando Valley) withstood a late charge to knock off Phoenix Brophy Prep, 72-61.

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BELLFLOWER – The giddy days of beating folks by nearly 36 points per game were always going to be short-lived, as St. John Bosco High boys’ basketball coach Matt Dunn would have been the first to attest.

And that was demonstrated succinctly Wednesday night, as the host Braves – trailing by three points in the fourth quarter – got all 10 points in the final period from a dandy pair of sophomores to hold off a one-win, Long Beach Poly team, 52-48, in a quarterfinal of the Braves’ Varsity Winter Classic.

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REDONDO BEACH – The Harvard-Westlake High boys basketball team held up quite well while taking its first major test of the season Saturday night, all things considered.

The Wolverines, trailing by three points in the fourth quarter of a game with the team that beat Sierra Canyon seven nights before, pulled away in the final four minutes to knock off Rancho Christian, 63-52, in the final game of the five-day, Ryse Williams/Pac Shores Showcase at Redondo Union High.

Trent Perry (pictured) and Jacob Huggins split 16 of their team’s 21 fourth-quarter points as Coach David Rebibo’s team improved to 8-0.

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