De La Salle’s Jordan Rotinho attacks the paint during game vs. Chaminade during Monday’s MaxPreps MLK Classic held at Cal. Photo: Phillip Walton/SportStars.
No. 1 Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland wins huge game at HoopHall Classic in Springfield, Mass. Other big winners include De La Salle of Concord, Cathedral of Los Angeles and Immanuel of Reedley.
To read our breakdowns on each Top 20 team of the next rankings, why some rankings moves were made, which teams are on the bubble and for the first CIF divisional state rankings for both boys and girls basketball (coming soon), you need to be a member of our Gold Club. Join our team today by CLICKING HERE.
For info on Jan. 21 recommended My Goal Mine webinar for new goal-setting smart phone app, CLICK HERE.
Due to travel plans back to California and ESPNU’s broadcast schedule, state boys basketball No. 1 Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland was done playing in its MLK Day showcase game on Monday morning before many people in their home state had climbed out of bed.
The Dragons played like they were in the brightest lights possible, too. They took on Wheeler, Ga., at the HoopHall Classic played in Springfield, Mass., which came into the weekend at No. 3 in at least one national ranking, and posted a 79-70 victory.
O’Dowd, which also went to the Bass Pro Tournament in Springfield, Mo., during the MLK weekend, received a monster outing from 6-foot-11 center Ivan Rabb. He scored 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked five shots. The Dragons had to survive a 31-point performance from Wheeler All-American Jaylen Brown.
After the weekend games, which also saw O’Dowd lose to Wesleyan Christian Academy of North Carolina but defeat Waynesville, Mo., and Paul VI of Fairfax, Va., the Dragons sit at 10-3 on the season. All three losses are to out-of-state opponents so they will remain No. 1 in the next state rankings.
Ivan Rabb holds plaque with teammates after Monday win in Springfield, Mass. Photo: Twitter.com.
(Note: Several of these writeups based on twitter updates from managing editor Ronnie Flores and many more of the state’s top prep sports journalists.)
At the MaxPreps MLK Classic held in Berkeley at Cal’s Haas Pavilion:
De La Salle (Concord) 56, Chaminade (West Hills) 44
The Spartans (14-1) have climbed to No. 12 overall in the state and knocked off last year’s CIF Division III state champions.
A 16-0 run in the second half enabled De La Salle to build a solid lead after taking a 29-27 lead at halftime.
The game was marred in the fourth quarter when Chaminade’s Bar Milo, a Miami-bound football player, was ejected for what was described in various tweets as a “head lock and slam” of De La Salle’s Nikhil Peters. No other incidents from the game were reported and Peters’ injury seemed to be a cut above his eye. Milo later tweeted: “I always play hard and with intensity. I have great respect for the game and never would try and intentionally injure an opponent.”
Vince Romeo had 21 points, four steals and two assists while Jordan Rotinho had 14 points and 19 rebounds for the Spartans. They will play another CIF state champion from last year, Monte Vista of Danville, on Tuesday in a East Bay Athletic League game.
Chaminade’s Jordan Ugundiran knocked down 21 points to the top the scoring for his team. The Eagles also lost last week in a league game to Harvard-Westlake.
Moreau Catholic (Hayward) 68,
Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 67
In the most recent State Top 20, Mitty was No. 15 and Moreau was No. 18 but the Monarchs already had a loss since then to Bellarmine of San Jose. This loss just added another one to their slate and solidified Moreau’s status.
Two free throws by Terrell Brown with nine seconds left gave the Mariners (11-6) a 68-65 lead. Mitty then missed a 3-pointer and made an uncontested layup at the final horn to account for the final score.
Damari Milstead, one of the state’s top sophomores, had 19 points for the winners while Oscar Frayer, one of the top juniors, had 18. Ben Kone topped Mitty with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
El Cerrito 78, Berkeley 65
Both teams seemed to play well in this game with the Gauchos (15-2) pulling away in the second half. El Cerrito, which has now won eight straight since a loss to Campolindo of Moraga, was led by Carlos Johnson with 25 points.
Franklin (Elk Grove) 44, Newark Memorial 25
The Wildcats pitched a defensive shutout of the Cougars in the fourth quarter, turning a 33-25 lead at the end of three into an easy win. Six-foot-7 senior Phillip Fayne netted a game-high 15 points for Franklin.
Salesian (Richmond) 76, St. Mary’s (Stockton) 55
It’s been an up-and-down season so far for the Pride and they’re back up following this win over one of the top teams from the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section. One of the reasons that Salesian (10-6) has been inconsistent and that head coach Bill Mellis only has two seniors on the roster. Both Marquel Johnson (5-9 soph.) and Brandon McGhee (6-2 junior) played well against the Rams. Lance Coleman, who once played at Salesian, had a game-high 26 points for St. Mary’s.
Sacramento 82, Sacred Heart Cathedral (SF) 56
Solomon Young didn’t score in the fourth quarter, but the impressive junior already had 16 through three and led the Dragons to the easy win. Teammate Christian Terrell added 15 points with six coming in the fourth quarter after the contest was decided. Sac improved to 14-4 with one loss to No. 1 O’Dowd, one to No. 2 Sierra Canyon, another to an out-of-state squad (King of Milwaukee) and the only other one in the first game by one point to Campolindo of Moraga.
At the MLK Showdown at La Salle (Pasadena):
Cathedral (Los Angeles) 68, Long Beach Poly 64 (OT)
Lucas Siewart buried a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left in the overtime to push the Phantoms to what ended up being a lead too much for the Jackrabbits to overcome.
Junior point guard Milan Acquuah led Cathedral with 27 points while senior Leandro Amador pumped in 23. The Phantoms played without UCLA-commit Kobe Paras and beat a team that was No. 41 in the FAB 50 national rankings and was No. 7 overall in the state according to Cal-Hi Sports. They improved to 14-3 and should move up from No. 13 overall in the state.
Poly (15-3), which tied the score at 55-55 at the end of regulation on a layup at the buzzer by point guard K.J. Feagin, received 17 points apiece from sophomore Zaphir Williams and senior Jordan Dallas.
Morse (San Diego) 96, J.W. North (Riverside) 88 (2 OTs)
In perhaps the best game of the day (boys or girls), the Tigers handed the Huskies their first loss of the season after 16 straight wins.
It also was an individual shootout between Morse junior Justin Davis and J.W. North’s Dykimbe Martin. Davis shined with 42 points and 13 rebounds. Teammate Brandon McCoy (6-foot-11) also had 27 points. Martin hit for 35 points to lead his team. Morse lost its previous game to Beverly Hills, which obviously makes the Normans look better even though J.W. North reportedly was missing two starters.
At the MLK Showcase at College of the Sequoias in Visalia:
Immanuel (Reedley) 77, Edison (Fresno) 61
The small school Eagles (15-2) could now be the Fresno Bee’s No. 1 overall team after rolling over the Tigers in a matchup between two of the top-ranked teams in the CIF Central Section.
Colin Slater, a highly regarded junior, had 29 points and 11 assists for Immanuel. R.J. Horn also had 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Ronnie Flores contributed to this post. Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle: @CalHiSports
2 Comments
Re: De La Salle- Chaminade game.
Re: De La Salle -Chaminade game.
I was at the DLS-Chaminade game, sitting in the 1st row of the mezzanine above the baseline next to the press-bench. I think I had as good a view as anyone (including the officials) of the incident early in the 4th qtr that resulted in the ‘Nad player getting ejected. Here’s what I thought I saw.
There was a loose ball just to the right of the paint on the ‘Nad basket side. Both Dela’s Nikhil Peters and ‘Nad’s Bar Milo went after and got their arms and hands around the basketball. Both players were on the floor by the time Milo, who was mostly on his back, strongly pulled the ball across his chest. However, Peters was still hanging onto the ball, too. I don’t know whether Milo’s arm or arms had also gotten around Peters’ arm or arms. I definitely did not see Milo putting Peters into a headlock or around any other part of Peters’ body other than perhaps his arm or arms. Anyway, Peters, still hanging on to the ball, also came across Milo’s chest and landed headfirst onto the floor and appeared to have had his bell rung. He had to leave the game and have his head wound bandaged. He returned to the game later in the 4th qtr. (Had this been football, I doubt if he would have been allowed to return.)Milo was tossed from the game and Dela got 2 freethrows. The ‘Nad coaching staff was quite upset. I think they saw pretty much what I saw. The incident was on their end of the court. I doubt if much could have been seen from the Dela bench on the other end of the court. Later in the qtr., the bald ref threw a T at ‘Nad when their entire staff jumped up over what appeared to be a ticky-tacky if not phantom foul call. By then the game’s momentum had gone to DLS.
I watched Bar Milo fairly intensely after he was ejected and I thought his demeanor on the bench not to be indicative of someone who had done a violent number on an opposing player. It seemed to me he had every right to use his superior size and strength to “wrestle” the ball away from Nikhil Peters. I don’t know what the refs saw or what the logic was to throw Bar Milo out of the game. Also, the reason for the T? I will say there was an important ‘Nad player (I won’t say his name or number) who seemed to be whining at the refs from the get-go, which probably had an irritating effect on them.
I would like to be able to see some film of that game to see if what I saw, and apparently what the Chaminade bench saw, or what the refs said they saw, was what really happened and whether the ejection was warranted.
Overall it was a good basketball game. It ended 55-44 in favor of De La Salle. It’s a shame the game was marred by the early 4th qtr. incident.
Good luck to Bar Milo at Miami U..
TinyTim
PS: Although I try to be objective when doing rankings and analysis in my blogs, I am a Northern Californian that usually cheers for the North to beat the South.