Frank Burlison

GLENDALE, AZ. – Three of the 14 divisional championship games went about as expected – down to the wire – Sunday on the final day of the Fiesta Bowl Section Seven Basketball Team Camp, held on the floor of the Phoenix Cardinals’ stadium.

In the showcase game of the entire three-day, 200-plus-teams event, California’s top two teams for 2022-23 clashed in the Field Bowl bracket finale, with Corona Centennial pulling away down the stretch to knock off Studio City Harvard-Westlake, 59-49.

Jared McCain and two other returning starters from the Huskies’ 33-1, CIF State Open-Division team, posts Aaron McBride and Devin Williams, proved the cumulative difference as Coach Josh Giles’ club scored the final eight points in the final two and a half minutes.

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GLENDALE, AZ – The west’s best boys high school basketball program of the past two seasons – and the team that will likely have the best chance of challenging it in 2022-23 – will hook up Sunday morning on one of 12 courts laid out on the floor of the State Farm Stadium in the third Fiesta Bowl Section Seven.

Championship games are scheduled in 14 divisions made up of 16 teams apiece from the west and a few beyond.

The title match of the most notable of those, the Fiesta Bowl, is set to tip at 11:30 (on “Court 4”) and will pit California State Open Division champion Corona Centennial (33-1 last season) and the squad it beat in the Feb 25, CIF Southern Section Open final, Harvard-Westlake (25-4).

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DRAPER, Utah – When it comes to providing a showcase for high school teams and players in and around Utah, no one does it better than Tim Davis.

That was once again the case when Davis – who, with Lynn Lloyd, helps run the adidas-fronted and well-respected Utah Prospects club program – put on the third annual Great Western Summer Classic, Wednesday-thru-Saturday, with Juan Diego High the “headquarters”.

But six other facilities were also in use for the hundreds of games involving 357 teams – 82 of those “varsity” – that came from all corners of Utah, as well as Idaho, Nevada, California (Balboa Prep in San Diego County) and New Mexico.

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LAS VEGAS – How strong is high school basketball’s national Class of 2024?

The collective performances of the soon-to-be juniors during the three days of the 20^th Pangos All-American Camp at Bishop Gorman High would suggest very strong, indeed.

Twenty-five of the 60 players selected to play in the camp’s two all-star games Tuesday afternoon are c/o 2024 members.

In that group is a player who attends Liberty, which is in Henderson and located about 16 miles southeast of the Bishop Gorman High campus.

Dedan Thomas Jr.,

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LAS VEGAS – Night No. 1 of the 20^th Pangos All-American Basketball Camp provided plenty of Sunday storylines at Bishop Gorman High.

With nearly every NBA franchise represented by scouts or front-office personnel to check out 100-plus high school-aged players from across the basketball playing word, it’s only appropriate that the offspring of former NBA athletes were among those being evaluated.

*Six-foot-nine Carey Booth (Englewood, CO, Cherry Creek; the son of former NBA forward and current Denver Nuggets General Manager Calvin Booth); 6-5 Dylan Harper (Ramsey, NJ, Bosco Tech; pops, Ron Harper, has five NBA championship rings in his hardware collection) and 6-7 Andrej Stojakovic (Carmichael, CA, Jesuit; dad Peja averaged 17.0 ppg in 13 NBA seasons, the first eight of those with the Sacramento Kings) each had strong moments Sunday night in the first round of game action.

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