Frank Burlison

NORTHRIDGE – With a little more than three minutes to go in regulation, it appeared as if the third meeting this season between the Etiwanda and Sierra Canyon boys’ basketball teams was, indeed, going to the charm for the former.

Instead, quickly unraveled into the nightmare.

Etiwanda, which dropped a couple of decisions to the top-ranked Trailblazers earlier in the seasons, held an 11-point advantage with a little less than three minutes remaining in front of boisterous, SRO-only crowd Tuesday night at Cal State Northridge during the CIF State Southern Open Regional final.

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NORWALK – There were multiple standouts during last weekend’s Pangos Junior All-American Camp at Cerritos College.

The “best of the best”, though, from the Class of 2024 – at least on Saturday and Sunday – were a couple of kids from Florida and Texas, respectively

Six-foot-two guard point guard Chandler Watts – who started smashing dunks, too, the moment he walked on the floor Saturday afternoon – got the nod as the camp’s Most Outstanding Player following the conclusion of the Best of the Best All-Star Game.

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SANTA ANA – The Etiwanda High boys’ basketball teams has lost just twice in the most recent 25 games it has played this season.

Tuesday night the Eagles will get a third pop at knocking off the squad that handed it those two losses.

Etiwanda (30-3) trailed by nine points midway thru the first quarter, used its stout half-court defense and balanced offense to knock off the host Monarchs, 65-61, in a Saturday night CIF State Open Regional semifinal pitting the division’s respective 3 and 2 seeds.

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BELLFLOWER – A year or so after winning CIF Southern Section 4A and State D-IV championships, the Ribet Academy program is showing it is more than capable of holding up to the “big boys” of high school basketball in Southern California.

Two nights after smashing long-time L.A. City powerhouse and Open champion Westchester by 24 points in a State Southern Regional D-I opener, the Fighting Frogs went into the St. John Bosco gymnasium Thursday night and toppled the bracket’s top seed, 61-58.

Six-foot -five sophomore Tre White – a transfer from Dallas who wasn’t cleared to play until Feb.

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The host school’s squad became the last of the 11 teams from last December’s Classic at Damien field to earn a spot in Saturday’s State Regional boys’ basketball semifinals.

And none of the first 10 had to go nearly as hard in their quarterfinals to earn a spot into Saturday’s play as did the Damien Spartans.

Coach Mike LeDuc’s team, the No. 15 seed in the Southern Division I bracket, trailed by 20 points late in the second quarter to Riverside Poly at Rancho Verde High in Moreno Valley before pulling it out, 128-123, in six four-minute overtime periods Thursday night.

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