It’s Nike Extravaganza week.
The annual two-day event at Mater Dei has one of the better lineups in its 22 years.
Friday’s games: Rolling Hills Prep of Palos Verdes Estates vs. Rancho Mirage, 3 p.m.; Servite vs. Saddleback Valley Christian, 4:30 p.m.; Mater Dei’s girls team vs. Palisades, 6 p.m.; Oak Hill Academy of Virginia vs. Foothills Christian of El Cajon, 7:30 p.m.; and Mater Dei vs. Village Christian of Sun Valley, 9 p.m.
Saturday morning session: Dos Pueblos of Goleta vs. JSerra, 8:30 a.m.; St. John Bosco vs. Capistrano Valley, 10 a.m.; Los Alamitos vs. Villa Park, 11:30 a.m.
Saturday evening session: Centennial of Corona vs. Los Altos of Hacienda Heights, 1:15 p.m.; Fairfax of Los Angeles vs. Santa Margarita, 2:45 p.m.; Long Beach Poly vs. Orange Lutheran, 4:15 p.m.; Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth vs. Bishop Gorman of Las Vegas, 5:45 p.m.; Mater Dei vs. St. Augustine of San Diego, 7:15 p.m.; Oak Hill Academy vs. Chino Hills, 8:45 p.m.
Reserved seating is sold out for the Saturday evening session. General admission tickets at $12 each are available at materdei.org/tickets for Friday and for the Saturday morning session.
Seven teams in the latest California top 20 posted at calhisports.com are in the Nike Extravaganza: No. 1 Sierra Canyon, No. 2 Chino Hills, No. 4 Mater Dei, No. 7 Foothills Christian, No. 8 Fairfax, No. 11. St. Augustine and No. 19 Santa Margarita.
In USA Today’s national rankings, Sierra Canyon is No. 2, Chino Hills is No. 5, Oak Hill is No. 5 and Mater Dei is No. 10.
Jump stops around Orange County boys basketball:
• Beyond the media poll’s county top 10, a personal ranking of teams 11-25 in O.C.: 11. Buena Park (20-4); 12. Los Alamitos (13-6); 13. Crean Lutheran (17-6); 14. Corona del Mar (17-6); 15. Ocean View (17-6); 16. Huntington Beach (14-9); 17. Canyon (13-10); 18. San Clemente (15-8); 19. Foothill (16-7); 20. Northwood (16-7); 21. Tesoro (15-7); 22. Aliso Niguel (14-10); 23. Trabuco Hills (12-11); 24. Godinez (21-3); 25. El Toro (16-7).
• The CIF-Southern Section’s Open Division watch list, the candidates for the elite Open Division that is selected by a committee, was reduced from 35 teams last week to 25 teams this week. O.C. teams on this week’s watch list are Edison, Esperanza, Jserra, Mater Dei, Saddleback Valley Christian and Santa Margarita. Deleted from the watch list were Sonora and Villa Park.
• Evan Battey was All-Orange County first team last season as a junior at Villa Park but is unable to play this season because he used up his eight semesters of eligibility, having repeated his freshman year at a previous school. He goes to every Villa Park practice and has been like another assistant coach for the Spartans. “Sometimes,” Villa Park coach Kevin Reynolds said, “when we call timeout, Evan is the first one to address the players as they come off the floor and the rest of us coaches just stand back and let him take over.”
• The Franklin brothers, Myles and Julian, are Villa Park’s leaders but Reynolds said don’t overlook senior guard Caleb Banuelos, who is scoring 18 points a game.
• Blake Burzell, among the county’s top scorers, has returned to the Laguna Beach team after missing a few games – “coach’s decision,” as Laguna Beach coach Bret Fleming explained it. Burzell has played a reserve role for the Breakers since he returned.
• Canyon beat Foothill, 55-45, last week in a Crestview League game in which Foothill had a 14-5 lead. Canyon was 16 for 18 at the free-throw line.
• Santa Margarita beat Centennial of Corona, 52-51, Saturday in the Rolling Hills Prep State Preview at Cerritos College. Kaden Rasheed scored 15 points, all in the second half, for the Eagles. Forward Adrease Jackson, perhaps Santa Margarita’s best player, did not play because of injury. Sophomore forward Jake Kyman scored 12 points with six rebounds after scoring 18 points in each of the team’s two Trinity League wins, over JSerra and Orange Lutheran, earlier in the week.
• The best sub-.500 team in O.C. might be Orange Lutheran. The Lancers, 11-13, have lost to state-ranked Foothills Christian twice, nationally-ranked Chino Hills and Mater Dei, to state-ranked Centennial of Corona, twice to Santa Margarita, to state-ranked Sheldon, and to CIF-Southern Section Open Division watch-list team Heritage Christian of Northridge.
• In addition to the Nike Extravaganza, other top games this week: Wednesday, Mater Dei at JSerra, Huntington Beach at Edison, San Clemente at Trabuco Hills, Aliso Niguel at El Toro, Mission Viejo at Capistrano Valley and La Habra at Sonora; Thursday, Crean Lutheran at St. Margaret’s; Friday, Newport Harbor at Edison, El Toro at San Clemente, Tesoro at Aliso Niguel, Esperanza and Foothill, Yorba Linda at Canyon, Sonora at Sunny Hills and Buena Park at La Habra.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
