Four of the Golden State’s best teams will meet on championship Monday at the two premier post-holiday tournaments in the West Region. It will be FAB 50 No. 9 Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.) taking on FAB 50 No. 10 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) in the title game of The Classic at Damien (La Verne, Calif.) in a matchup of California’s two top ranked teams. Down in San Diego at The Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines (Del Mar, Calif.), it will be state No. 7 JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) taking on state No. 8 Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) in the National Division title game.
After hundreds of games were played in post-Christmas tournaments in Southern California, four excellent teams will battle on Monday evening Dec. 30 in the title games of the top divisions of The Classic at Damien and The Holiday Classic. In the Platinum Division of The Classic at Damien, the top team in the Cal-Hi Sports State Top 25, Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.) will meet No. 2 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) at 8:30 pm (PT) in a California No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup of two teams ranked in the top 10 of the latest FAB 50 National Team Rankings.
For Roosevelt, it will look to win its second major division holiday tournament title after capturing the championship at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas on Dec. 21. On Saturday evening, Roosevelt upped its record to 14-1 with a 86-65 victory over Layton Christian (Layton, Utah) in the Platinum Division semifinals. That team finished in fourth place at the Tarkanian Classic, but was no match for the Mustangs, as New Mexico-bound Issac Williamson broke a school record by draining 10 3-pointers en route to 34 points. Mr. Basketball USA candidate Brayden Burries, the Tarkanian Classic MVP, added 22 points for Roosevelt. The Mustangs haven’t been seriously challenged yet in their latest tournament, as they won their opening round game over San Ramon Valley (Danville, Calif.), 84-63, and in the quarterfinals by 90-58 over Clovis North (Clovis, Calif.).
That figures to change in the championship game versus St. John Bosco, which comes in at No. 10 one spot below the Mustangs in the FAB 50. St. John Bosco upped its record to 14-0 on Saturday evening with a 66-45 victory over La Mirada (Calif.), a team it beat earlier in the season at its own holiday tournament. Harvard-bound Elzie Harrington paced the Braves with 17 points and six rebounds. Junior forward Max Ellis added 14 points and also played sound defense on La Mirada sophomore standout Gene Roebuck, who was held to eight points after scoring 31 points in a quarterfinal upset of FAB 50 bubble club Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.). Redondo Union finished in third place at the Tarkanian Classic after beating Layton Christian and losing to Roosevelt in the semifinals by four points. St. John Bosco handed Heritage Christian (Northridge, Calif.) in its first loss of the season with a 52-43 quarterfinal victory, as Harrington went for 21 points.
JSerra, Riordan Set For Battle
Roosevelt and St. John Bosco could meet three times this season, as the two clubs could meet in the CIF Southern Section open division playoffs and the CIF SoCal regional playoffs. Roosevelt advanced to the CIFSS open title game in 2024 and to the SoCal open championship game as well, where it fell in both games to FAB 50 No. 31 and state No. 4 Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.). There is no guarantee those clubs will meet again after Monday, but one thing is certain: they won’t meet in the CIF state title game on March 15. That’s because California uses a North-South format and often the top two ranked clubs don’t meet in the state final.
\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t\”,\”body\”:\”\\t\\t\\t\\t\\n\\t\\t\\t\\t
