FAB 50 No. 18 St. John Bosco (Bellflower, Calif.) and Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.) advance to The Classic at Damien championship game in the Platinum Division after both win overtime thrillers. Tarkanian Classic champ St. Pius X-St. Matthias (Downey, Calif.) is taken down in Gold Division semifinals. At The Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines, Oak Cliff Faith Family (Dallas, Texas) will play Carlsbad (Calif.) for the National Division Title.
It's always a treat when the top seeds advance to the title game of a major holiday tournament such as The Classic at Damien in Southern California. It's even more sweet when the game will pit two of the best players in the nation at their position going head-to-head for the tourney title after two semifinal games that go down as instant classics. That is the current scenario for The Classic at Damien after both St. John Bosco and Roosevelt, two teams with aspirations to capture their first CIF Southern Section open division crown, both advanced to the event's top division title game with overtime semifinal victories on Friday evening.
For Roosevelt, the Mustangs used a monster overtime stanza from Colorado State-bound senior Darnez Slater to record a 76-71 win over host Damien (La Verne, Calif.), which sent the game to an extra period on a 3-pointer at the buzzer by 5-foot-9 sophomore Elijah Smith. With Damien trialing 63-60, Roosevelt called a timeout with under twenty seconds remaining and with Damien in possession after a loose ball. The clock wound down all the way to 4.8 seconds before the Mustangs' Brayden Burries knocked the ball out of bounds. Damien retained possession and both teams called a timeout to go over strategy. The Spartans even called another timeout with 2.9 seconds remaining that had the crowd on the edge of their seat. That crowd exploded after an inbounds pass that junior (2025) 7-foot big man Nate Garcia was unable to reach caromed to Smith, who calmly stepped to his left and fired a 3-pointer that swished through the net to make the score 63-63 and give the lively crowd four more minutes of basketball.
That's when Slater went to work to put Roosevelt (15-1) in Saturday's 8:30 title game. He had two points in regulation, but quickly hit a 3-pointer then converted a soft lay-up after a steal by junior 5-foot-9 guard Myles Walker (13 points) that gave the Mustangs a 72-67 lead with 1:17 remaining in the extra period. When Slater then coverted a sweeping, running junior hook with 35 seconds to go, it made the score 74-69 and it was apparent Roosevelt wasn't going to be denied. In all, Slater scored Roosevelt's first 11 points in overtime and finished with 13 points.
Garcia (15 points) made two free throws with 22.9 seconds remaining to once again make it a one possession game (74-71) before Roosevelt junior guard Issac Williamson sealed matters by making two free throws with 21.8 seconds remaining.
During regulation, Xavier Clinton, a 6-foot-4 senior, did most of the damage for Damien (13-2) with 20 points. In a back-and-forth affair, it's pretty safe to say Roosevelt wouldn't have been in position to win down the stretch without the play of Burries, its splendid 2025 wing guard. One of the best players nationally in his class, Burries got to the rim when he needed to, finishing with 31 points, and pulled down seven rebounds. Fans are in store for a real treat on Saturday evening with Burries matching up with St. John Bosco's 6-foot-5 lead guard Elzie Harrington, who helped the Braves advance to the title game with 14 points in its 68-66 overtime overtime victory over previous unbeaten Salesian (Richmond, Calif.).
St. John Bosco, which came in at No. 18 in the latest FAB 50 National Rankings update, moved to 13-1 with the victory with its only loss a 74-71 setback to Christ The King (Middle Village, N.Y.) in the semifinals of the Iolani Classic in Hawaii. Salesian, which is No. 40 (one spot below the DeMatha Catholic of Maryland club that Bosco beat in its final game in Hawaii) fell to 12-1 with the two-point loss.
The first semifinal contest in the Platinum Division wasn't decided until The Pride was unable to get off a shot with 0.4 seconds remaining after 7-foot Bosco sophomore Howie Wu was inserted to harass the in-bound pass attempt by Salesian's Hawaii-bound guard Aaron Claytor (10 points). Wu did just enough that Claytor was unable to get a clean pass over to Salesian's big shot-maker, 6-foot-4 junior Alvin Loving IV, as no shot attempt was taken.
Early in the game, St. John Bosco coach Matt Dunn was not exactly pleased with his team's effort and execution and he let the players know about it. That tounge-lashing paid off after Harrington scored what turned out to be the game-winning layup on a contested drive with 23 seconds remaining in overtime. After the basket, the Braves put forth terrific defensive effort on Salesian's last possession while The Pride, a team with a multitude of capable play-makers, worked the ball around for an open look. They didn't get any clean looks before the ball was tipped out of bounds and Wu inserted into the contest.
Sophomore Elias Obenyah, part of California's terrific 2026 class, led four Salesian players in double figures with 14 points. Six-foot-5 sophomore Carlton Perrilliat added 13 points with play-making senior De'Undrae Perteete netting 10 for Salesian.
The Harrington-Burries matchup is highly-anticipated, but the X-factor in the contest could be 6-foot-4 Brandon McCoy, who leads California's sophomore contingent and is now playing at a level where he is in the running to lead the class nationally. He's that talented and explosive. McCoy led the way for Bosco with a game-high 28 points, including some field goals that were back-breaking for Salesian and five points in the extra period.
While Bosco hasn't lost in-state, Roosevelt's only loss came in double overtime to JSerra (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.). That club took its first loss of the season in the quarterfinals of The Holiday Classic presented by SBLive. It was a resounding 60-42 setback to Oak Cliff Faith Family (Dallas, Texas), which punched its ticket to the National Division championship game on Friday evening with a 75-55 victory over St. Augustine (San Diego Calif.). Texas A & M–Corpus Christi signee Issac Williams, a 6-foot-2 guard, led Faith Family with 22 points over a team that took third place in the top division at the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.
Faith Family came into The Holiday Classic at 7-8 against a rugged national schedule, but is starting to play like a team that was ranked No. 27 in the preseason FAB 50 rankings. Colorado-bound big man Doryan Onwuchekwa leads a deep and balanced team that will do battle with Carlsbad (Calif.), which advanced to the title game via a 71-67 semifinal win over Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.). That means a big man battle will ensue between Onwuchekwa and Pepperdine-bound 6-foot-9 Jael Martin.
Tony Duckett, a 6-foot-4 senior who was the MVP of the Spalding Division at the Tarkanian Classic and is one of the West Region's top unsigned prospects, led the way for 13-2 Carlsbad in the semifinal win over Mitty with 18 points.
In the Gold Division of The Classic at Damien, St. Pius X-St. Matthias (Downey, Calif.) came in as the prohibitive favorite after capturing the top division at the Tarkanian Classic and were looking at cracking the FAB 50 rankings with another title at The Classic. The Warriors' national and state ranking will have to be revisited after they fell in the semifinals to San Ramon Valley (Danville, Calif.), 67-62.
San Ramon Valley is no slouch, as it came into the event as the defending champion in the Gold Division and was eager to show (on a more national scale) that its wins last season were no fluke at all or Friday's victory not much of an upset. SRV is a well-schooled team that moves the ball well and has many capable scorers. None of them are better than fast-rising Luke Isaak, a 6-foot-4 junior (2025) and last year's MVP of the Gold Division. He netted 19 points in the big victory with rugged senior forward Seamus Deely adding 15.
Sam Ramon Valley will play for its second consecutive divisional title versus Dixie (St. George, Utah), a 74-69 semifinal winner over West Ranch (Valencia, Calif.).
Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores