The Classic at Damien: Rancho Christian, Harvard-Westlake advance to semifinals

The Platinum Division quarterfinals of the Classic at Damien on Wednesday featured big-time high school basketball. A college coach could have sat courtside and come up with his own dream team of participating players, seal the list in a bottle, put it away on a shelf and in a couple of years probably look like a genius with selections of future college standouts.

Dedan Thomas Jr. of Nevada Liberty, Dusty Stromer of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, 6-foot-8 Kevin Patton Jr. of Rancho Christian, Zoom Diallo of Washington Curtis, Trent Perry and Brady Dunlap of Harvard-Westlake were among the standouts and likely selections for any fantasy team.

The mystery team of the tournament coming in was Rancho Christian, which rose to fame when the NBA Mobley brothers were leading the way. The Eagles came in with a 5-6 record after playing a tough nonleague schedule and wins over Sierra Canyon and Liberty.

Rancho Christian stamped its ticket to Thursday’s 8:30 p.m. semifinals against Nevada Liberty by knocking off unbeaten West Ranch 60-53. A 9-0 surge in the fourth quarter enabled the Eagles (7-6) to put away a West Ranch team that couldn’t box out 6-foot-11 Martin Gumwel. Rancho Christian also received strong performances from Patton and Kollen Murphy with 16 points each. Jazz Gardner led West Ranch (14-1) with 23 points.

“We expect to keep getting better,” Rancho Christian coach Ray Barefield said.

Murphy, a transfer from Ontario Colony, became eligible on Christmas Day and has made the guard position much stronger.

In the most entertaining game of the night, Liberty came away with an 87-83 victory over Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Angelo Kambala scored 30 points for Liberty and made seven of eight free throws in the final minute as the Knights frantically began to foul after falling behind by 10 points in the fourth quarter. Thomas had 21 points and eight assists for Liberty, showing why many recruiting experts think he’s the best point guard in the West from the class of 2024. Stromer scored 28 points for Notre Dame and Caleb Foster had 21 points.

Harvard-Westlake improved to 15-0, overcoming a 9-0 deficit to start the game to defeat Etiwanda 67-56. The Wolverines will play Curtis in the 7 p.m. semifinals. Dunlap contributed 23 points and Trent Perry 20. Nikolas Khamenia and Jacob Huggins connected on big baskets in the fourth quarter to quash Etiwanda comeback hopes.

St. Bernard 64, Santa Margarita 56: Caleb Versher scored 19 points and Tyler Rolison 16 to lead St. Bernard in a consolation bracket game at Damien. Cameron McNamee scored 18 points, including four threes, and Rockwell Reynolds added 17 for Santa Margarita.

Colony 47, Birmingham 45: The Patriots missed a potential winning shot at the buzzer in the Damien tournament consolation game. Denzel Hines led Colony with 17 points and freshman Joseph Riggins had 12 rebounds. Freshman Caleb Newton made three threes for Birmingham.

Rancho Cucamonga 75, St. Mary’s 74: Aaron Glass finished with 39 points and Shadale Knight made two free throws with 0.4 seconds left to seal the overtime victory for Rancho Cucamonga. Knight also made a three at the end of regulation to tie the score.

Windward 73, Oak Hills 47: The Wildcats advanced to their division semifinals at Damien with their ninth consecutive victory. Gavin Hightower and Jeremiah Hampton each scored 16 points.

Mater Dei 90, San Leandro 66: Zack Davidson scored 18 points for the 10-2 Monarchs.

Upland 64, Crenshaw 61: After 15 consecutive wins to start the season, the Cougars finally fell from the unbeaten ranks in a close defeat. Jeremiah Blackmon and King Peterson each scored 12 points for Crenshaw.

Walnut 66, Adelanto 52: Malik Khouzam scored 29 points for Walnut, which advanced to the Covina tournament championship game against AGBU.

Pacifica Christian 63, Long Beach Poly 59: Sophomore Jovanni Ruff had 25 points for Poly in defeat.

Bishop Montgomery 67, Providence 40: The unbeaten Knights won their 14th consecutive game. Will Smith scored 19 points in the South Pasadena tournament.

St. John College 77, St. John Bosco 67: Xinyi Li scored 21 points for the Braves in San Diego.

Foothill 48, Fort Worth Christian 36: Rocco Gaffoglio had 11 points for 13-1 Foothill.

Village Christian 70, St. Monica 48: Thomas Luczak had 22 points and 10 rebounds for Village Christian.

Palos Verdes 49, Simi Valley 45: Despite 35 points from Ryder Mjoen, the Pioneers were beaten by Palos Verdes.

Dominguez 63, South East 55: Isaac Sowell had 18 points and 18 rebounds for Dominguez.

Rolling Hills Prep 57, St. Pius X-St. Matthias 52: JV Brown finished with 15 points for Rolling Hills Prep.

Thousand Oaks 42, Inglewood 36: Trent MacLean led the Lancers with 19 points.

Long Beach Jordan 77, Grant 72: Byron Mendez scored 32 points and made nine threes for Grant.

Santa Monica 80, San Diego Hoover 78: Santa Monica won in double overtime. Joshua Hecht scored 26 points.

Westlake 61, Ventura 36: Austin Maziasz finished with 26 points and eight rebounds for Westlake.

Westchester 57, Alter 52: Jonathan Choyce scored 21 points for Westchester.

Taft 76, Maranatha 60: Bishop Brooks finished with 20 points for Taft.

Fountain Valley 92, Viewpoint 90: Fountain Valley won in triple overtime. Viewpoint sophomore Aeneas Grullon scored 45 points, had 12 rebounds and seven assists.

Utah Cyprus 68, Valencia 61: Kai Davis scored 19 points for Valencia.

Girls’ basketball

Mater Dei 98, Arroyo Valley 19: Emily Shaw scored 25 points in the Ayala tournament.

Boys’ soccer

Servite 4, Bellarmine Prep 0: The Friars continue to play like the best soccer team in the Southland. Joe Moyer had two goals. Talin Morgan recorded the shutout in goal.