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RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Ca. – The Etiwanda High boys’ basketball team took a big step toward making it the front-runner for the Baseline League title Friday night, while diving right back into the mix for a spot in the eight-team CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff field.

In a game in which neither team held an advantage larger than six points, the host Eagles knocked off the Damien Spartans, 45-39.

Etiwanda improved to 5-0 in league and 15-4 overall while the Spartans dropped to 3-1 and 21-2.

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GARDENA – Doug Mitchell had to wait a heck of a long time to bag his 750^th victory as a varsity basketball head coach once that total hit 749 when his Bishop Montgomery High team knocked off Heritage Christian in the title game of the Mission Prep Christmas Tournament in San Luis Obispo.

In fact, the Knights had to wait just as long to play another game after that tourney title victory on Dec. 22 – four weeks to the day.

With their season all but shut down because of the impact COVID had on their program, the Knights finally played again Wednesday night, overcoming 22 turnovers en route to toppling the host Gardena Cavaliers, 68-59, in a Del Rey League contest.

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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – A battle between two of the better guards in the national Class of 2023 was the hook to the Hoophall Classic game between programs from New Jersey (Camden) and Georgia (Milton) Monday afternoon in Blake Arena on the campus of Springfield College.

And that narrative held up, as D.J. Wagner and Kanaan Carlyle both had substantial shares of spectacular plays as Wagner’s Camden team came away with 63-55 victory in front of a near-full gymnasium and national television audience.

But even as the 6-foot-2 Wagner (21 point, including three 3s, five rebounds and two steals) and the 6-3 Carlyle (25 points, with six 3s, and five rebounds/he’s already committed to Stanford) were showing why they’re consensus “top 10 in the class” prospects, it was another junior guard who proved the difference in the decisive fourth quarter to help Camden snap a two-game losing streak.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ma. – Getting a handle on national high school basketball player ratings is always a dicey proposition, at best – especially when it comes to trying to put the “best” prospects in order nearly two years removed from their schedule high school graduation.

But 6-foot-6 Ian Jackson introduced a whole lot of on-court evidence Sunday afternoon as to why there many not be many – if any – better players in the Class of 2024 than he is right now.

In an event stockpiled with future college All-Americans – and NBA draft choices – no one this weekend turned in a better performance than he did while leading his Bronx Cardinal Hayes High team past Chicago De La Salle, 81-40, in one of the eight Hoophall Classic games played in Blake Arena on the Springfield College campus.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ma. – He was his Little Rock Christian High team’s top player and leader scorer as a freshman and sophomore.

But, even after sparkling efforts at the Pangos All-American Camp in Las Vegas last June and with the Bradley Beal Elite 16s on the Nike/EYBL circuit in July, the 6-foot-2 Layden Blocker had no illusions about his “role” would be upon enrolling at “national” prep school Bel Aire (KS) Sunrise Christian School for his junior year season and academic year.

“I knew I wasn’t going to get to shoot and score as much (as he did at LR Christian),” he said, after he and his Sunrise teammates had edged Lincolnton (NC) Combine Academy, 72-68, Saturday in one of the three contests decided in overtime during the eight-game, Hoophall Classic schedule played in Blake Arena on the Springfield College campus.

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