Uncategorized

LAS VEGAS – Bishop Gorman High will be the “epicenter”, of sorts, for Southern California high school boys basketball this week.

The “traditional high schools” portion of this week’s Tarkanian Classic is set to tip Wednesday afternoon.

And the event’s top (Platinum) 16-team division includes the No.’s 2 (Roosevelt), 3 (Notre Dame), 5 (Redondo Union), 11 (St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy), 21 (Campbell Hall) and 25 (Centennial) in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal ratings.

Rounding out that division are two other California programs, L.A. Westchester and San Diego St.

[Click to continue reading]

LEHI, UTAH – Less than 24 hours after holding on to win in its toughest test of the season, the Harvard-Westlake High boys basketball team ran into figurative “buzzsaw” early Saturday evening at Lehi High on the final day of the Holiday Hoopfest.

And it came in the form of a Timpview squad that had been limited to 39 points Friday night on its homecourt in Provo, in a three-point loss to another Utah-based program, Layton Christian Academy.

But eight on-court minutes into their game with California’s two-time defending State Open Division champion, the Thunderbirds had blasted the Wolverines’ usually stout perimeter defense for seven 3s – the last of those on a release from near mid-court by Mason Ford which went thru the rim at the buzzer sounded for a 12-point advantage.

[Click to continue reading]

LEHI, Utah –  Utah’s defending state (6A) boys’ basketball team, and another squad that is the current No. 1 in the state, suffered 26- and 13-point defeats to Texas-based opponents on Friday’s first full day of the Holiday Hoopfest at Lehi High.

And, in the last of the six boys games played Friday, California’s two-time State Open Division champion picked off a pass in the final seconds  to secure a 57-54 win in its first “real test” in its ninth game this season.

Action begins at 9 o’clock (MT) Saturday morning, when a nine-game slate (three of those girls’) gets underway when Fort Worth Eastern Hills faces Draper (UT) Corner Canyon.

[Click to continue reading]

LONG BEACH – A year ago at this time,  Jaden Erami and Kayleb Kearse were the best players on the Bosco Tech and Serra high school boys basketball teams.

Tuesday night, at St. Anthony High, they helped the St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy program pull out a huge win against one of its biggest roadblocks to another Del Rey League championship.

Erami (a 6-foot-1 senior) nailed a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining to put the game into overtime, and then he and Kearse (a 5-9 junior) put the finishing touches on the Warriors’  88-85 decision against the host Saints.

[Click to continue reading]

   LAGUNA NIGUEL – Week III of the boys’ basketball season wrapped Saturday night.

Although there is  some high-quality tournament (notably, at St. John Bosco) and “showcase” (ditto, at Beverly Hills) action involving multiple members in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal ratings, it’s a “calm before the (hoops) storm” kind of deal this week.

Three events (the Dec. 18-21 Tarkanian Classic; the Dec. 26-30 Classic at Damien; and the Jan. 2-4 HoopHall West/Tournament of Champions in Arizona), along with the Mission and Trinity League competition, will largely dictate what shape and look the CIF Southern Section Open and Division I (and, maybe II) playoff fields take when the computer spits them out in February.

[Click to continue reading]