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CORONA, Ca. – After two rather ho-hum games, it figured that the third time – eh, game – would proved the charm Thursday night at Centennial High.

And that was the case as the host Huskies – trailed by double-figure margins in the third quarter – pulled out a scintillating 82-75 victory, in overtime, against Inglewood during the first-ever Tip-Off at the Empire Invitational.

In those earlier tilts, Westwind Prep Academy (via Phoenix) toppled Rialto Eisenhower, 74-52, followed by Etiwanda’s 60-43 victory over Compton.

Friday night’s Gold Division semifinals tip off at 7 o’clock with top seed Westwind Academy taking on Inglewood and then Centennial playing host to Etiwanda at 8:30.

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PASADENA, Ca. – Tuesday’s Day II of the 9^th Rose City Roundball Classic, hosted by the very capable Tim Tucker-led basketball staff and supporters at Pasadena High, produced nary a suspense-laden outing during its four games.

Such is life – and basketball. It can’t all be down-to-final-moments, buzzer-beating action, right?

But, as was the case with Monday night’s four opening tilts, the results did set the stage for some intriguing quarterfinal contests.

Top seed El Camino Real (77-30 over Granite Hills) and Cantwell (which toppled L.A.

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PASADENA, Ca. – There were a couple of wildly entertaining games and a couple of blowouts in the first day of the Pasadena High-hosted ninth Rose City Roundball Classic.

Well, .500 isn’t bad at all.

Long Beach Jordan and La Verne Lutheran (with Jordan eking out a 64-63 overtime decision) and Chino Hills and Reseda Cleveland (with Chino Hills zipping its way to a 97-79 victory) provided all of the thrills and “real-game” entertainment.

L.A. Price (91-57 over Ventura) and the host Bulldogs (72-29 over Canoga Park AGBU) overwhelmed vastly overmatched opponents to advance to Wednesday evening championship quarterfinal contests.

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The 2012-13 Southern California high school hoops season gets underway in earnest with the usual litany of top-flight tournaments this week.

My travel plans will take me to at least four of those this week (six days, beginning tonight), where I will see a large number of the best teams AND players in the Southland.

Those include the 61^st Pacific Shores Tournament (at Redondo Union High); the 9^th Rose City Roundball Classic (at Pasadena High); the Diablo Inferno (at Mission Viejo High); and the inaugural “Tip-Off at the Empire” (held on both the Corona Centennial and Etiwanda campuses).

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ANAHEIM, Ca. – Less than an hour or so later, 40 minutes or so west, a couple of Pacific 12 Conference programs suffered losses on their home courts.

But, during the championship game of the DirecTV Classic, another team representing the conference took care of business in most efficient fashion.

Coach Mike Montgomery’s California Golden Bears played a mostly outstanding 40 minutes while improving to 6-0 with their 78-58 victory over the Pacific Tigers of the Big West Conference.

The Tigers were outstanding while upsetting first Xavier (70-67) and then Saint Mary’s (76-66) in the first two rounds of the eight-team tournament.

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