Prep basketball: Local schools gear up for holiday tournaments

By Michael Bower

Just two days after Christmas, some of the top high school boys and girls basketball teams will compete in holiday tournaments at venues all over the San Diego area.

Point guard Mandy Castro, in white above, will lead Poway High into the prestigious So.Cal.Holiday Prep Classic on Tuesday. Photo by Beverley Brooks.

Some of the top teams across the state and the country will battle at local schools, including Rancho Bernardo High, Westview and Del Norte.

The prestigious girls So.Cal.Holiday Prep Classic tips off Tuesday, as does the highly competitive Torrey Pines Holiday Classic for the boys.

The girls tournament concludes with championship games for the five different brackets (TOC, NCAA, NCAA D2, NAIA and Prep) on Dec. 30. The boys tournament also concludes Dec. 30 with championship games for the five different divisions (National, American, Governor, Senator and Mayor).

The Broncos and Titans’ boys basketball teams will be competing in the Holiday Classic. The Titans are playing in the Governor’s Division and open tournament play against Punahou of Hawaii at 11:05 a.m. at Westview High. Poway and Westview are the only local teams in the Governor’s Division.

Poway is also part of a special “Tipoff Day” on Dec. 26, in which they will play defending CIF SDS Division I champion La Costa Canyon at 5:25 p.m. at Torrey Pines (the game is not a tournament game).

“I was real happy (Torrey Pines boys basketball coach John Olive) invited us to play on Tipoff Day,” Poway coach Aaron Little said. “He didn’t exactly give me a deal in the opponent with La Costa Canyon, but we have a nice little rivalry with La Costa so it is always fun to play them.”

The Broncos are in the Mayor Division and will face Mater Dei on Tuesday at 11:05 a.m. at Rancho Bernardo High. There will be a full slate of games at Rancho Bernardo High on Tuesday, starting with the Broncos’ game and ending with Chaparral vs. Cienega-Arizona at 8:35 p.m.

The Titans girls basketball team will compete in the TOC Bracket at this year’s So.Cal.Holiday Prep Classic. Poway captured the NCAA Bracket championship in the tournament last year. The competition is likely to be tougher this season, but the Titans have the talent to compete with the best. Poway faces Granada Hills Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at West Hills High in the opening game.

Rancho Bernardo will be playing in the NCAA D2 Bracket, while Del Norte is in the NAIA Bracket. The Broncos open pool play with Grossmont at Grossmont on Tuesday at 8 p.m.

The Nighthawks open pool play against Parker at Del Norte Tuesday at 5 p.m.

For more information, including schedules and updated brackets, on the Torrey Pines’ Holiday Classic, visit www.theholidayclassic.org. For more information on the So.Cal.Holiday Prep Classic, visit www.socalholidayprepsclassic.com.

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Posted by Michael Bower on Dec 21 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry