Frank Burlison

LYNWOOD, Ca. – Friday’s Night 1 of the three-day, Battle X Strive for Greatness/Los Angeles resulted in a couple of nifty matchups between the adidas-fronted Compton Magic and Nike-Strive for Greatness boys’ grassroots programs.

After a frenetic rally led the Strive for Greatness 16s squad to a 70-68 victory, the Compton Magic 17s bounced backed in impressive fashion, 67-59, Lynwood High.

Nine games are scheduled for Day 2 at Calabasas High, beginning at 9:30 a.m., with six games set for Sunday at the same location.

Six-foot-six Andrej Stojakovic (Jesuit High in Carmichael near Sacramento) was the linchpin in the Magic’s 17s victory, scoring 27 points with 12 rebounds as the Magic jumped out to a 10-point advantage after the first quarter and never allowed SFG to get any closer than to within five points in the fourth quarter.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca.  – The Corona Centennial Huskies’ boys’ basketball team rolled to a 33-1 record and bagged State and CIF Southern Section Open championships this season.

Coach Josh Giles’ club was led by the BurlisonOnBasketball Senior “Player of the Year” in 6-foot-2, University of New Mexico-bound Donovan Dent, with another senior guard – Ramsey Huff – also playing a big part in the team’s devastating dominance while winning its final 30 games.

But the Huskies also put the strongest core of players from the Class of 2023 on the floor to go along with that 2022 duo.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Here’s 13 of the “next best” of the senior class of boys’ basketball players in Southern California.

They may not have made the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 13 (including Player of the Year) cut but each member of the next group had a strong senior season and helped his team enjoy considerable success.

For want of a snappier (or more original) tag, I’m calling this the “Under-the-Radar” team – in large part because none of the players is of yet committed to a college for the 2022-23 basketball and academic year.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Southern California’s most outstanding boys’ basketball player in the senior class this past season was easy to identify anytime you watched the region’s best team in action.

And all of those who watched Corona Centennial, multiple times, roll to a 33-1 record en route to CIF Southern Section and Regional Open championships, and the program’s first-ever state title, had plenty of opportunity to watch Donovan Dent demonstrate why there wasn’t a better basketball anywhere in the region in any class.

The 6-foot-2 Dent (pictured), who signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of New Mexico last November, turned in these kinds of performances all season:

*In the March 12 State Open final vs.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Six first-round NCAA Tournament games may not be the all-encompassing sample size needed to make a definitive declaration on the topic.

But the six representatives of the Big 12 made a collective and pointed on-court demonstration Thursday and Friday as to their conference may be the strongest in men’s college hoops this season.

They won their six games by an average margin of 23 points, with No. 1 regional seeds Baylor (East/85-49 vs. Norfolk State) and Kansas (Midwest/83-56 vs. Texas Southern) pounded their No.

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