Frank Burlison

LOS ANGELES – The more than year-long pandemic prevented the usual packed house for the latest renewal of one of California’s best high school rivalries Saturday afternoon.

But that didn’t lessen the stakes – nor the competitiveness – during the Westchester at Fairfax basketball game.

Senior guards T.J. Wainwright and Zion Sutton – starters on the Comets’ latest L.A. City Open title squad last spring – helped Coach Ed Azzam’s team improve to 7-0 with a 62-54 victory over the host Lions, who slipped to 6-1.

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NORTHRIDGE, Ca. – Coach Andre Chevalier’s Sierra Canyon High boys’ basketball team handled its final “pre-CIF Southern Open Division playoffs” challenge in admirable fashion Saturday afternoon in a non-league contest at Heritage Christian High.

The Trailblazers, behind by as many as seven points a couple of times in the second quarter and by four early in the final quarter, turned on the Amari Bailey-sparked afterburners to pull away from the host Warriors, 88-66.

Chevalier’s team will take a 12-0 record into the CIF Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division playoffs, scheduled to begin Friday evening.

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BELLFLOWER, Ca. – Seniors Scotty Washington (16 points) and Lamaj Lewis (19) and junior Jeremiah Nyarko (20) combined for all but 14 of their team’s points as St. John Bosco High’s boys’ basketball pulled away to knock off visiting Mater Dei, 69-56, in a Trinity League finale Thursday night.

It was the first loss of the season for the Monarchs (24-1 overall and 9-1 in league), who clinched the league title Tuesday night with a win at Santa Margarita.

The host Braves improved to 19-2 and 8-2 and enhanced the odds that they will be one of the CIF Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division Playoff field that will be announced Sunday morning.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The final regular-season week of the 2021 boys’ basketball season, CIF Southern Section-variety, gets underway Monday night.

And, despite a couple of down-to-the-wire games involving Ribet Academy, as well as some nifty showdowns during the 26^th Mater Dei Extravaganza over the weekend, there is still much to play out before the makeup of the playoffs – notably the Open Division – is put into place.

Significant results from last week:

*Ribet Academy got an even later start than most everyone else in the “modified 2020-21 season”, with COVID-19 issues delaying the Frogs’ debut until May 1.

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SANTA ANA, Ca. – Coach Gary McKnight’s Mater Dei High Monarchs took take of some non-Trinity League business Friday night, knocking off Capistrano Valley Christian in the final game of Friday’s first day of the 26^th Mater Dei Extravaganza.

The 71-47 victory over the Eagles improved the Monarchs’ record to 22-0, keeping them on target for their first unbeaten regular-season since going 35-0 in the 2013-14 campaign, whicha ended with the first State Open Division championship and an unofficial “national championship”.

Mater Dei’s “major college frontcourt” of seniors Wilhelm Breidenbach (bound for the University of Nebraska), Nick Davidson (headed to Nevada in Reno) and Harrison Hornery (he’s going to USC) combined for 54 points, 31 rebounds and eight assists.

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