The summer basketball season is in full swing, with tournaments and leagues at several locations in Orange County.
Continuing operation this week are the Hope International University High School Summer League, the Tiger Basketball League at Valencia, the Los Al Summer League at Los Alamitos, the Villa Park Summer League and the Sea Kings Summer Shoot-Out at Corona del Mar and Costa Mesa.
Among the events beginning Friday are the El Toro Summer Tournament and the Larry Walker Memorial Tournament at Servite.
Teams often are in two tournaments or leagues simultaneously. Defending CIF State and Southern Section Open Division champion Mater Dei is in the tournaments at Servite and El Toro, with a game against La Habra at Servite on Friday at 2:20 p.m., a game against Mission Viejo at El Toro on Friday at 3p.m. and another at El Toro on Friday at 4:15p.m. against Saddleback Valley Christian.
The Monarchs and other teams that have overlapping schedules go split squad for their games.
“Summer’s the best time for basketball,” Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said. “Everybody gets to play and we get a good look at all of our kids.”
The Summer Classic, a 71-team event hosted by Saddleback Valley Christian and played at five south-county locations, got summer basketball started June 11 and concluded June 15.
Saddleback Valley Christian coach Tom Lewis said giving teams quality matchups is why the Summer Classic has grown from being a 12-team event a few years ago to attracting 71 teams now.
“We give coaches what they want,” Lewis said. “Most teams get four games. We get certified referees, we have quality games and quality teams and opportunities to play a lot of teams from outside of a team’s area.”
Many coaches try to avoid as much as possible having their teams play opponents during the summer that they would play during the regular season.
The Summer Classic charged teams a $295 entry fee.
“That helps with fundraising,” Lewis said. “It helps us with expenses when we travel out of town to play in tournaments.”
There was no champion identified in the Summer Classic, but Lewis was impressed by two teams in particular: Canyon, last season’s CIF-SS 2AA champion, and Centennial of Corona, the CIF Southern California Regional Division 1 champion.
“Centennial beat everybody by 25 points,” Lewis said. “Canyon’s very good. They played against Balboa City (of San Diego) and that No. 1 player and beat them by 25.”
Balboa City’s DeAndre Ayton is a 6-foot-10 power forward who will be a sophomore this coming school year. He is ranked high in California and nationally among players in his class.
League and tournament schedules can be found at ocvarsity.com at the “basketball” tab.
STEVE FRYER
BOYS BASKETBALL
McKnight has been impressed by the skill level of three Mater Dei incoming freshman basketball players: Harrison Butler, Reagan Lundeen and Michael Wang.
Butler is the son of former Ocean View and UC Irvine player Ricky Butler. Lundeen’s father, Scott McCorkle, was an All-County player at Capistrano Valley. Wang is a 6-7 forward who was born in China.
STEVE FRYER
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Mater Dei senior girls basketball player Katie Lou Samuelson will be competing for Team USA in this upcoming weekend’s U17 World Championships in the Czech Republic.
The Register’s two-time defending Player of the Year was one of 12 players selected from around to country to compete in the international tournament. She was the only Orange County player selected to the final squad, and one of only three athletes chosen from California.
This is the second consecutive summer Samuelson has competed for Team USA internationally. In 2013, the Monarchs star won a gold medal in the FIBA Americas U16 Championships, which were held in Cancun, Mexico.
The U17 World Championships begin this Saturday with the U.S. opening against China.
Samuelson, regarded by many as the top girls basketball recruit in the class of 2015, verbally committed to UConn following her junior season.
KENNY CONNOLLY
FOOTBALL
Tickets for the Brea Lions Orange County North-South All-Star Football Game are on sale at the game’s website.
The game is July 10 at Orange Coast College. Kickoff is 7:15 p.m. Gates open at 6 p.m.
General admission advance tickets, at $10, can be purchased at the game’s website – oc-allstarfootball.com – by clicking on the “store” tab. Tickets will be $12 on game night, but they can also be purchased in advance at team practices.
The North practices at Fullerton High today and Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and again Monday through Thursday of next week at those times.
The South practices at Huntington Beach Monday through Wednesday of next week from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. …
Summer football passing tournaments and leagues are ongoing. One of the better passing tournaments each year is the Battle at the Beach, at Edison.
The 20-team Battle at the Beach is July 12 with the first games at 8 a.m.
Orange County teams expected to participate are Edison, JSerra, La Habra, Los Alamitos, Mater Dei and Santa Margarita. Also competing will be St. John Bosco, which won the CIF-SS Pac-5 championship and a state title in 2013; CIF-SS Inland Division champion Centennial of Corona; and CIF-SS Northern Division champion Hart of Newhall.
Edison coach Dave White likes having his team conclude its summer season with the Battle at the Beach.
“We used to go one more week after it and we’d be just dead,” White said. “So this is a good way to finish up.” …
White was named Southern California football coach of the year by the California Coaches Association. …
Dana Hills went 4-1 in a football passing tournament at San Diego State this past weekend. The Dolphins loss was to Hamilton of Arizona, which won the tournament.
Dolphins coach Todd Rusinkovich praised the play of quarterback Cole Wilber, who will be a senior this fall.
“Cole did a phenomenal job of being a leader, taking care of the football and making great decisions,” Rusinkovich said of Wilber, who picked up a scholarship offer from Northern Arizona.
STEVE FRYER
RECRUITING
Servite senior-to-be quarterback Travis Waller (6-31/2, 195) said Tuesday that he has updated his top four college choices.
Waller has added Oregon to his mix after the Ducks recently offered him a scholarship. The Pac-12 heavyweight now ranks with Notre Dame, Northwestern and Ohio State in Waller’s top four.
Waller had listed Alabama in his top four but the Crimson Tide recently received a commitment from Blake Barnett of Santiago of Corona. …
JSerra football offensive tackle Luke Wattenberg will be only a junior this fall, but he has already gathered several scholarship offers from top college programs.
JSerra football coach Jim Hartigan said schools that have extended offers to the 6-4, 265-pound Wattenberg include BYU, Cal, Oregon State and UCLA.
Senior-to-be defensive lineman DJ Bailey of JSerra has offers from Cal, UCLA and Washington. Bailey, an All-Trinity League first-team selection in 2013, has a 4.5 grade-point average. Lions quarterback Nick Robinson, also a senior this fall, has an offer from Florida International. …
Quinton Pounds, an all-purpose football player at Cypress, recently was offered by Washington, Cypress coach Rick Feldman confirmed. Pounds’ previous offers are from Boise State, Colorado, Nevada, Utah and Washington State. Pounds was Empire League special teams player of the year in 2013. …
Servite senior-to-be receiver Equanimeous St. Brown, 6-5 and 205 pounds, added Miami to his growing list of offers, according to Servite coach AJ Gass. St. Brown also has offers from UCLA, Stanford, USC, Arizona, LSU, Texas A&M, Washington, Fresno State, Penn State, Notre Dame, Arizona State, Minnesota, Tennessee, Utah, Northwestern, Arizona, Indiana, San Diego State, Washington State and Illinois.
STEVE FRYER
VOLLEYBALL
Aliso Niguel’s Kathryn Plummer and Woodbridge’s Mima Mirkovic are competing on the U.S. Girls Youth National Team at the NORCECA U-18 Continental Championships in Costa Rica.
The tournament ends June 29. From there, Plummer and Mirkovic will travel to Minnesota to join their TStreet 16 team for the Girls Junior National Championships, which begin June 30 in the 16 Open Division.
Plummer and Mirkovic will also represent the U.S. in the FIVB U-17 Beach World Championships in Acapulco, Mexico from July 15-20. …
Esperanza setter Brinley Bersford has committed to Regis University in Denver, Coach Isaac Owens said. Bersford will be a three-year starting setter next year.
DAMIAN CALHOUN
TRACK AND FIELD
Northwood distance star Bethan Knights’ greatness tour hit another stop last weekend.
At the Brooks PR Invitational in Seattle, Knights set a national record in the girls two-mile run. Knights, who is headed to Cal, won the race with a time of 9:53.54, which outlasted Hannah DeBalsi of Connecticut, who ran a 9:55.05.
Knights won a state championship in the 3,200 this season, and set an Orange County record in the event by running a 9:54.89, which she accomplished at the CIF-SS Masters Meet.
ANTONIO MORALES
BASEBALL
A Trinity League team finished in two baseball national top 50s. But not the same Trinity League team.
Santa Margarita is No. 50 in studentsports.com’s final national rankings. The Eagles (20-10-1) won the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 championship. They finished second in the Trinity League.
JSerra is No. 11 in Baseball American’s final top 50. The Lions (22-7) were Trinity League champions. They were eliminated in the Division 1 semifinals by Foothill, which lost to Santa Margarita in the championship game.
Barbe of Lake Charles, La. (39-2) is No. 1 in both rankings.
DAMIAN CALHOUN
WATER POLO
Former Foothill girls water polo coach Jeff Colton, who resigned in January for personal reasons, was hired as the girls water polo coach at University, Trojans athletic director Mark Cunningham confirmed.
Colton guided Foothill for four seasons, taking the Knights to a CIF Division 1 runner-up finish in 2011 and appearances in the Division 1 semifinals in 2012 and 2013.
Last season, with one key senior, Foothill climbed to No. 1 in Orange County shortly before Colton resigned 31/2 weeks before the start of the playoffs. He didn’t comment on why he resigned while the school said the move was for personal reasons. …
All-Orange Coast League goalie James Rydjeski transferred from Costa Mesa to Edison, Chargers boys water polo coach Diggy Riley said.
Rydjeski will be a senior in the fall. He racked up 319 saves last season for Costa Mesa, which reached the Division 2 playoffs.
DAN ALBANO
WRESTLING
Santa Ana wrestler Brenda Perez signed to attend King University in Tennessee. Perez is a four-time CIF medalist, three-time state medalist, including second last year and she became the fourth All-American for the Saints. She placed seventh at the USA Wrestling Girls Folkstyle Nationals in March.
DAMIAN CALHOUN
LACROSSE
Earlier this month, Mater Dei sophomore Grace Houser was named to the Register’s All-County girls lacrosse first team.
Last week, her brother, Nico, a senior at Santa Margarita, made his college commitment. Nico committed to play lacrosse at Wagner College.
As a junior, Nico scored 28 goals and had seven assists for the Eagles, who reached the U.S. Lacrosse Southern Section South Division quarterfinals.
Grace scored 48 goals and won 52 draws as she helped the Monarchs reach the quarterfinals of the girls county playoffs.
ANTONIO MORALES
GOLF
Marina’s Nick Swanson posted a 6-under-par 66 in the final round of the ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior last Thursday to tie for second in the AJGA tournament at Mission Hills Country Club in Desert Mirage.
He holed eight birides in the first round, fired a 32 on the back nine and finished the 54-hole tournament with a 5-under-par 211.
He lost a three-hole playoff with Jamie Cheatham (Rancho Santa Fe), who chipped on his final hole to make it into the sudden death showdown for the boys division championship. which also featured Daniel Lopez (Los Angeles)
Ramiz Jamal, Swanson’s teammate on the Vikings’ boys golf team, finished tied for fifth with Servite’s Matt Wilson at even-par 216.
Wilson, the Register’s Boys Golf of the Year, eagled the par-5 second hole to shoot a 2-under 70 in the second round.
In the girls division, Irvine’s Euna Pak tied for eighth with a 6-over 222 and Newport Harbor’s Grace Farrell placed 17th.
DAMIAN DOTTORE
