Frank Burlison

LA VERNE, CA – Three of the best boys’ basketball teams from California – and another from Utah – powered their way into the Saturday night championship semifinals of the Platinum Division in the eighth edition of The Classic at Damien with strong Friday performances.

The top-ranked team in California – 13-0 St. John Bosco – faces a second challenge in 15 days from 12-2 La Mirada at 7 o’clock.

And defending Platinum champion Roosevelt (13-1) and Utah’s Layton Christian Academy (7-4) follow at 8:30. Both games will be played in the school’s Athletic Center.

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LA VERNE, CA – These are the highlights of Thursday’s Day I of the eighth edition of The Classic at Damien . . .

Well, where to begin?

*Central California power Clovis North of Fresno, along with Sandra Day O’Connor of Phoenix and Layton Christian Academy of Utah, pulled off tight first-round wins to join five of Southern California’s 10 best teams in a power-packed group of Platinum Division quarterfinals Friday in Damien’s Athletic Center.

*And, in the most anticipated first-day game of the event – and, for that matter,  anywhere else in High School Hoops Land Thursday – Jason Crowe, Jr.

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LA VERNE, CA – Many of the elite boys high school basketball programs in Southern California – and beyond – will tip off on Thursday’s first day of The Classic at Damien.

The eighth annual event has a field of 128 teams, made of up eight, 16-team divisions.

Sixteen games, split between the Platinum (Athletic Center) and Gold (Event Center) brackets, will be played on Damien’s campus Thursday, beginning with the Platinum game pitting Redondo Union (10-1 and No. 5 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30) against Sacramento Destiny Christian (4-2).

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – The St. John Bosco and Eastvale Roosevelt boys’ basketball teams, who remain in the top spots of the updated BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30, head the field for the Platinum Division of the eighth The Classic at Damien, which tips off Thursday morning at Damien and other sites near the school’s La Verne campus.

If each win their first three games, they will play on Dec. 30 in a rematch of last year’s division finale that was won by Roosevelt, 68-65, behind event Most Outstanding Player Brayden Burries.

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LAS VEGAS – The “Big Three” of Eastvale Roosevelt High boys’ basketball team came through in its usual fashion Saturday during the championship game of the 12^th Tarkanian Classic Platinum Division at Bishop Gorman.

But it was the efforts of the players accompanying Brayden Burries, Myles Walker and Issac Williamson that also were also huge reasons why the Mustangs knocked off Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 76-58.

The “SoCal Showdown” pitted the No.’s 2 (11-1 Roosevelt) and 3 (12-1 Notre Dame) teams in last week’s BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California ratings.

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