December is the month to shop for tournaments in Orange County boys basketball.
The shelves are filled with good teams and fine matchups.
The Beach Bash tournament started Monday. It’s mostly played at Corona del Mar High, with a few games at Newport Harbor. Orange County Top 25 teams in it are No. 4 JSerra, No. 7 Tesoro, No. 9 Foothill, No. 11 Crean Lutheran, No. 12 Los Alamitos, No. 14 Edison, No. 16 Portola, No. 22 Newport Harbor and No. 23 Corona del Mar.
The Beach Bash championship game is Saturday at 8 p.m. at Corona del Mar.
The Sonora Cage Classic at Sonora High has county No. 1 Canyon in it. The Comanches (7-0) opened the tournament with a 70-64 win over Lakewood. The tournament, which began as the Sonora Cage Classic, grew into the North Orange County Championship and now is back to being called the Sonora Cage Classic, includes O.C. No. 19 Capistrano Valley and a couple of teams that might get into the county Top 25 later, Cypress and Fountain Valley.
The Sonora Cage Classic championship game is Saturday at 5 p.m. at Sonora.
The Gary Raya Classic at El Dorado has Troy, Yorba Linda and the host school in it. The Raya tournament championship game is Saturday at 6 p.m. at El Dorado.
The Savanna Shootout at Savanna includes Eastside Christian, University, the host school and some Los Angeles County teams. Its championship game is Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Savanna.
The San Juan Invitational Shootout is not a tournament, but a collection of games. It’s at San Juan Hills and Capistrano Valley Christian. Trabuco Hills beat Dana Hills 57-48 in a notable first-day game Monday.
What was the Bellflower Tournament is now the Servite Invitational. Servite assumed the event so that the involved five teams could play games this week. It’s another collection of games rather than a tournament, with Servite the only O.C. team in it.
NOTES
The sit-out period ends Dec. 25 for basketball transfers who did not make the change of residence that grants immediate athletic eligibility. Sit-out period transfers can play in the many post-Christmas tournaments that begin Dec. 27. Among the basketball players who will become eligible is Fairmont Prep’s Bowen Hammer, a 6-foot-7 senior from Utah. Fairmont coach Joedy Gardner called him “our best player.” …
Fairmont Prep lost Monday for the first time this season, a 74-71 loss to Walnut (8-0) in the first round of the Braves Varsity Winter Classic at St. John Bosco. Fairmont is 8-1. …
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Dana Hills won the championship of last week’s Loara Saxon Tournament. The Dolphins (7-2) beat Newport Harbor 72-56 in the championship game. Sophomore guard Collin Haugh scored 27 points against Newport Harbor after scoring 39 against Costa Mesa in a tournament game, and opened the season with 41 points in a win over Calvary Chapel on Nov. 15. …
Fullerton beat Servite in the Loara tournament third-place game 66-56. Fullerton senior forward Josiah Reed scored 25 points in a win over Costa Mesa and 28 in a loss to Dana Hills in tournament games. …
Mater Dei went 1-1 during its two days in London for the Hoophall International event last week. The Monarchs (3-1) defeated Pace Academy of Georgia 69-66 and lost to St Paul VI of Virginia 75-47. St. Paul is No. 3 in MaxPreps.com’s national rankings. …
One Orange County team is No. 1 in its division in this week’s CIF Southern Section polls. La Habra is on top of the Division 3A rankings. …
Tickets are on sale at GoFan.co for the two-day Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei, Jan. 27-28. Among the matchups: JSerra vs. Crean Lutheran.
