Tourney time before new year hits

Sierra Canyon girls basketball players collected the championship trophy of the West Coast Jamboree Platinum Division on Saturday night at Dublin High. Photo: She Hoops Too.

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One year after the Etiwanda girls basketball team of Southern California did the Northern California double-dip of winning the West Coast Jamboree Platinum Division title and then the CIF Open Division state championship, the Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth girls hope to do the same.

The Trailblazers completed a 3-0 week in the top division of the Jamboree on Saturday night at Dublin High by posting a 68-57 win in the championship game over Folsom. It was a matchup of state top 10 teams as well with Sierra Canyon at No. 3 and Folsom at No. 7.

MacKenly Randolph, a four-year starter for Sierra Canyon, was named Scoop Jackson tourney MVP. She led the Trailblazers in scoring with 25 points in the semifinal win against Sage Hill of Newport Beach and had 22 in the team’s first win of the week, 69-53, over Edge Prep of Canada. In the title game, Randolph snagged 15 rebounds to go with 18 points.

Emilia Krstevski, a 6-foot-6 sophomore center, led the Trailblazers in scoring against Folsom with 20 points and she had 11 rebounds. Krstevski also had 13 rebounds and 13 points plus four blocks in the semifinals.

Sophomore sensation Jerzy Robinson knocked down 19 points vs Sage Hill and she had 13 in the final plus 17 vs Edge Prep. Izela Arenas, also a four-year starter like Randolph, had 15 points vs Sage Hill and 14 vs Edge Prep.

With the win, Sierra Canyon improved to 12-1 and head coach Alicia Komaki also has been reported with winning her 300th career game.

Folsom’s Cal-bound Kamryn Mafua was selected as the Jim Capoot Memorial award winner for sportsmanship and also was all-tourney. She recorded 17 points with six rebounds, two blocks and two steals in the final. Sophia Mindermann added 14 points.

In the third-place contest of the Platinum Division, state No. 6 Sage Hill of Newport Beach topped St. Joseph of Santa Maria, 58-46. The Thunder had lost in the semifinals, 81-57, to Sierra Canyon. St. Joseph fell in its semifinal contest, 68-60, to Folsom. Sage Hill’s Amalia Holguin and Zoe Lambkin were both named all-tourney along with UCLA-bound Avary Cain of the Knights.

In the second-best division of the Jamboree, called the Diamond Division, Clovis of the CIF Central Section defeated Chaminade of West Hills, 57-54, in the title game. Sophomore Sadie Sin of the Cougars was named MVP. Her teammates joining her on the all-tourney team were Yazmin Aguilera and Taylor Larkin.

Stanford-bound Harper Peterson was MVP of the Emerald Division after she led her Whitney of Rocklin team past St. Mary’s of Inglewood, 51-41, in the championship. Teammate Tylie Kitchen also had a strong week and had a team-high 20 points vs St. Mary’s.

Brayden Burries (on the far left) was MVP of the Platinum Division at The Classic at Damien. His teammates from Roosevelt of Eastvale also collected a lot of honors after their big win Saturday over St. John Bosco. Photo: Ronnie Flores.

Roosevelt of Eastvale Tops Bosco
In The Classic at Damien Finals

After a semifinal round on Friday in the boys hoops’ Platinum Division bracket of The Classic at Damien in which both games went into overtime, Roosevelt of Eastvale’s 68-65 win in the final on Saturday over St. John Bosco of Bellflower was a darn right blowout.

The Mustangs, who began the tourney at No. 7 in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 25, made their three-pointers in the second half to extend a 41-38 halftime lead to as much as 52-36 against the Braves, who were No. 2 in the state coming in.

St. John Bosco came on in the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to 65-62 with 12.5 seconds left on a three-pointer by Brandon McCoy. A free throw by Brayden Burries made it 66-62 and then after a Braves’ player stepped out of bounds with 5.6 seconds left two more free throws extended the lead to 68-62. The final points of the game came on an uncontested three-pointer by Bosco’s Jack Turner.

Burries resembled the highly ranked Class of 2025 national prospect that he is throughout the week and was named tourney MVP. He had 15 points and seven rebounds in the final. Darnez Slater had 18 points for the Mustangs while Turner led Bosco with 18 points.

Roosevelt needed overtime to get past host Damien, 76-71, in the semifinals. Earlier in the quarterfinals, Damien handed state No. 9 De La Salle of Concord its first loss.

Bosco also needed extra time to hand state No. 5 Salesian of Richmond a 68-66 loss in the semifinals. The Pride had gotten a big win over Corona Centennial in an earlier game. In the third-place game, Salesian bounced back from its first loss of the season with a 62-59 triumph over Damien.

Hall leads Carlsbad past
Faith Family of Texas

For only the fifth time in the 32-year history of the Holiday Classic boys basketball tournament at Torrey Pines of San Diego, a CIF San Diego Section team has emerged with the championship in the National Division. And Carlsbad did it with a win over a two-time defending state champion from Texas.

The Lancers, who were No. 19 in the most recent Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 25 rankings, squeeked past Archbishop Mitty of San Jose (No. 21) in the semifinals. They got past Faith Family Academy of Dallas in the final, 78-69. Carlsbad only led 55-54 entering the fourth quarter, but scored the first five points of that quarter and ended up never trailing again.

Jake Hall, an all-state sophomore last season, pumped in 27 points for Carlsbad and was named tourney MVP. Jael Martin’s play on the interior also was huge for the Lancers as Faith Family is a team known for having great size. Martin (6-9) had 11 points in the final. Tony Duckett, who was the leading scorer in the semifinals, had 19 points vs Faith Family.

Faith Family, which has won the last two UIL Class 4A state titles, opened the tournament with a 60-42 win over JSerra of San Juan Capistrano, which entered the event unbeaten and was No. 1 in state computer rankings (No. 6 in Cal-Hi Sports Top 25). The Eagles then defeated San Diego’s defending Open Division champions from St. Augustine in the semifinals.

In the third-place game, Mitty followed up a 71-67 loss to Carlsbad with one of 57-55 to St. Augustine. The game-winning basket occurred with just 0.7 seconds left on a loose ball that was put back into the basket by Isaiah Hasten. He also was one of the top football players (WR/DB) for Saints that won the CIF San Diego Section D1 championship. Jaden Bailes led the way with 24 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter. Gavin Ripp had a strong showing all week for Mitty. He will play in college at nearby University of San Diego.

Mitty Girls Strengthen No. 1 State
Ranking At POA Holiday Classic in Oregon

While it is true that three of California’s top five girls teams were all in the same event this week in Oregon, none of the three played each other. That’s because the POA Holiday Classic did a round-robin format instead of traditional brackets.

State No. 1 Archbishop Mitty won in all three of its games as did state No. 2 Etiwanda. The reason, though, that the Monarchs strengthened their hold on the state’s top ranking is that one of their wins at the POA Classic came by 50-30 over a DeSoto of Texas team that has a win over Etiwanda. The Monarchs won on Saturday, 82-67, against Clackamas, the defending Class 6A state champion from Oregon.

Etiwanda also got a win over Clackamas at the Oregon event (71-42) and also got wins over Willamette and Camas. DeSoto had a win on the second day of the tourney over state No. 4 Mater Dei of Santa Ana, which also had a reported win during the event vs Camas (Wash.).

Harvard-Westlake Boys Lose In Final
2.1 Seconds at Les Schwab Invitational

It was a highly anticipated matchup in the boys hoops title game on Saturday night at the Les Schwab Invitational in Portland, Ore., where FAB 50 national No. 7 Columbus of Miami, Fla., took on No. 9 Harvard-Westlake of Studio City.

Despite a loss, Harvard-Westlake shouldn’t drop far in the FAB 50 and also is expected to remain No. 1 in Cal-Hi Sports State TOP 25. The defending CIF Open Division state champions couldn’t get one last defensive stop and lost to Columbus, 55-54. The Explorers took the lead on a put back basket with 2.1 seconds left and the Wolverines were not able to get a shot off when they were called for an in-bounds violation.

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