MaxPreps Holiday Classic Live: Day 1

PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — Four California teams, including the nation's No. 1 team Chino Hills, and four out-of-state squads were triumphant in Open Division action on the first day of the MaxPreps Holiday Classic on Saturday night at Rancho Mirage High School.

King (Milwaukee, Wi.) and Jonesboro (Ga.) began Open Division play with victories over California squad, but Golden State squads De La Salle (Concord) and Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) ended the days with impressive wins.

Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), Bentonville (Ark.) and Alemany (Mission Hills, Calif.) were other first-day winners in the tournament's 117-team, 11-division top bracket. See a rundown of each Open Division game below.

After an off-day, championship quarterfinal play resumes Monday at Rancho Mirage: Chino Hills takes on King, Alemany plays Jonesboro, Gorman goes against De La Salle and Redonodo Union battles Bentonville.

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Rancho Mirage - Court 1 Live Stream

Chino Hills freshman Onyeka Okongwu (21) goes up for a dunk in a 97-58 win over Seattle Prep.

Photo by David Hood

Chino Hills (Calif.) 97, Seattle Prep (Wash.) 58

They packed Rancho Mirage for a predicted lopsided first-round game because the nation's No. 1 team was on display, featuring the hottest prep ticket in the country, the Ball brothers.

Problem, for some anyway, was they saw a tad too much of them.

Senior point guard Lonzo Ball, by many accounts, the best senior in the country, looked the part with 25 points, 14 assists, seven rebounds and 10 steals, and his junior shooting guard brother LiAngelo Ball had 31 points as the Huskies improved to 10-0 and will meet King (Milwaukee) in a quarterfinal game on Monday.

But both Lonzo and LiAngelo were in the game to the finish, both shooting 3-pointers in the final 15 seconds. Asked why the talented pair were in the game to the buzzer of a 40-point game, Chino Hills coach Steve Baik said both the boys asked to stay in and they needed to play through "some rust."

"(Lonzo) doesn't ask often and I think he's earned that right," Baik said. "We played so ugly and the entire night we were trying to find a rhythm."

Their presence on the court was particularly disturbing when the brothers' cousin, Andre Ball, injured his knee with eight seconds remaining. Andre, a non-starter, screamed in pain for 20-30 seconds as the packed crowd went quiet. He later was helped off the court by two coaches and it is believed to have popped out of place rather than a torn ligament. Either way, it brought into light that injuries can occur late.

Seattle Prep coach Michael Kelly said he didn't have a problem with the two brothers being in late.

"I'm not in a position to pay attention to who they have in late," he said. "I have enough to worry about with my my team. I don't know what things the other coach is going through with his team. Maybe they were working on some things. I can't control what possible demons he was trying to exorcise.

"I do know this: Lonzo Ball is as good as any player in the country."

No arguments there. The 6-foot-6 point guard, who has signed to UCLA, controlled the game from start to finish, though the Huskies, coming off a championship Wednesday night at City of Palms in Fort Myers (Fla.), were far from sharp. That's a long trip.

They got 19 points from Elizjah Scott and eight points and nine blocks from 6-9 freshman Onyeka Okongwu.

Seattle Prep (3-4) had a combined 23 points from Jaxon Woodward and Kalu Stricklin.

King (Milwaukee, Wis.) 52, Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) 47

It wasn't pretty or artistic and King coach Jim Gosz didn't even recognize it as basketball: "It was more like an arm-wrestling match and we wouldn't say 'uncle.' "

But King, which traveled all Christmas day, more than would take the first Open Division game of the tournament, thanks largely to 23 points from vastly improved junior guard Virshon Cotton and smothering defense. Highly-touted junior guard Jordan Poole added 10 points.

Santa Margarita (7-3), which got 17 points by Jordan Guest and 10 by Adrease Jackson, towered over the perennial Wisconsin power. But even after falling behind 9-0 and not scoring for nearly six minutes, King improved to 7-0 and will face the nation's No. 1 team Chino Hills.

"It's not every day a team from Wisconsin gets the chance to play the No. 1 team in the country," Gosz said. "We couldn't be more thrilled."

Cotton, who grew three inches to 6-foot-1 in the offseason, grew even more on the court during his AAU season. He was sort of an afterthought on last year's 22-3 team. He made 6 of 9 three-point attempts and led an 11-2 run in the third quarter with a pair of 3-pointers to put King in control.

"Our speed and defense took over," said Cotton, who leads the team with a 17.7 scoring average. "I can wait (to face Chino Hills). I love playing against the best."

Gosz wouldn't offer the long travel as any excuse for the sluggish start or poor shooting. "All of it was due to a great Santa Margarita team. I couldn't be more proud of our guys. They showed a lot of grit."

Bentonville (Ark.) 73, St. Petersburg (Fla.) 70

The notion that Bentonville is a one-man show was put to rest — at least for a night — as four Tigers scored in double figures led by Tyler Robinson, not Malik Monk, with 20 points. Monk had 16, Asa Hutchinson had 14 and Jordan Hemphill added 12.

Monk, the nation's No. 6 recruit headed for Kentucky, said his Tigers (6-1) played well enough in spurts, but need to play much better to advance to the semifinals. It's the first trip to Southern California for Monk, considered one of the finest Arkansas products ever.

"It's an important trip for all of us," Monk said. "We need to put in on for Arkansas."

Bentonville, the division's second-seed, seemed to take control at several points, including in the fourth quarter when it took a 12-point lead. But St. Petersburg, led by a superlative game from Darius Banks (24 points) and Serrel Smith (18 points) never stopped attacking. The Florida power missed a pair of three-pointers in the final five seconds to prevent overtime.

"We need to do a better job of taking care of the job," Monk said. "But we did enough good things to win."

Jonesboro (Ga.) 67, Windward (Los Angeles, Calif.) 49

More travel woes — a 16-hour Christmas Day trip — didn't deter the two-time defending Georgia state champions who got 25 points from James (M.J.) Walker, Jr., 10 by Eric Lovett and a combined 17 from Tariq Jenkins and Jamari Smith.

According to Jonesboro coach Daniel Maehlman, the Cardinals left Georgia at 9 a.m. Christmas morning and didn't arrive to its Palm Springs hotel until 3 a.m.

"I'm not sure when all the travel and jet lag will set in, but the guys fought through it (Saturday)," Maehlman said.

It didn't seem to bother Walker, the reigning MaxPreps Sophomore of the Year, who scored 21 points in the first half on a variety of jumpers and three-pointers. By halftime, this one was essentially over.

A halftime speech from Maehlman might have also helped.

"I told them we're the only team here from Georgia," he said. "We're not just representing Jonesboro, we're representing the entire state of Georgia."

Payton Moore had 13 points and Jalen Harris 10 for Windward (3-6).

Alemany (Mission Hills, Calif.) 63, Moreau Catholic (Hayward, Calif.) 60

Alemany coachTray Meeks thought his team was getting "punked." Translation: getting beat to the ball. Out-rebounded. Out-hustled. Finally he laid down a challenge in the third quarter.

Down 32-19 in the second quarter, Moreau (7-2) used its hustle, defense and rebounding to take 43-41 third-quarter lead on a driving layup by Damari Milstead, who scored a game-high 27 points. Meeks called timeout.

"I just told them to be tougher," Meeks said. "I challenged their toughness. Collectively they responded. I'm very pleased."

Alemany (8-2) got 17 points apiece from DJ McDonald and Shacquille Dawkins and 13 from Earnie Sears III. Brandon Davis hit a couple tough inside shots in the fourth quarter, when the Warriors held on. A tough jumper by Alex Johnson gave Moreau its last lead, 60-59, before Davis and Sears responded with driving lay-ups.

Besides Milstead, Terrell Brown had 11 points and Brandon Lawrence 10. The team's top recruit, 6-foot-7 wing Oscar Frayer had just two points and was held out the final 12 minutes, a coach's decision. Moreau opened the season with a 60-59 win over Sierra Canyon, which is now ranked sixth nationally. Alemany lost by 20 to the same team.

"I have so much respect for coach (Frank) Knight and Moreau," Meeks said. "We had a common opponent and they won and we lost. We knew this would take our best effort."

Alemany will now play Jonesboro and Walker, a 6-6 wing. "He's a handful," Meeks said. "What a talent. We're gonna need a day to figure out how to deal with him."

De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) 64, Prestonwood Christian (Plano, Texas) 47

Defense, rebounding and shooting. Simple concepts, tough execution. The Spartans (7-0) executed in all phases with an impressive victory in the final game of the night at Rancho Mirage.

USF-signee Jordan Ratinho scored 19 points, fellow fourth-year starter Nikhil Peters had 15 and Connor O'Dea added 11 as De La Salle jumped to an 18-5 lead and were never really threatned against the Lions (15-6), which got 17 points and 15 rebounds from 6-10 post Schnider Herard, a Mississippi State recruit.

De La Salle coach A.J. Kuhle said he was fine with letting Herard get his points. But holding everyone else down was key. No other Prestonwood players scored in double figures.

Kuhle, a first-year high school varsity coach — he previously coached eight seasons as an assistant at the University of Denver — said De La Salle is not nearly a polished product. The Spartans looked like it Saturday.

"We're still learning to play our style," he said. "We want to be up-tempo and shoot a lot of 3s. We want to play like the Warriors and Spurs even though we don't have Tim Duncan or Tony Parker or Stephen Currie."

Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) 72, Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) 58

A sloppy first half turned into largely the Chuck O'Bannon Jr show as the 6-5 junior exploded for 14 of his game high 29 points in the third quarter leading the Gaels (8-2), who won going away. O'Bannon, whose dad was an All-American at UCLA and played overseas in Japan for 13 years, added three more buckets in the fourth quarter.

Gorman, which got 18 points from Christian Popoola and 10 by Zach Collins, scored 47 in the second half. Capital Christian got 16 points by Isaiah Jones and 15 each from Zachary Chappell and Ryan Chappell.

"Chuck really stepped it up the second half," Gorman coach Grant Rice said. "They all did. We worked the ball around (6-10 post) Collins and good things happened. I was very pleased with our second-half effort."

On Monday, Gorman plays De La Salle, a program the Gaels have never played. 

Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) 77, Folsom (Calif.) 59

Redondo Union jumped to a 9-0 lead, extended it to beyond 20 and was never really threatened in a convincing win over the Sac-Joaqin Section power.

Ryse Williams had 25 points for Redondo (8-2) while teammates Leland Green and Morgan Means added 14 apiece. Redondo plays Bentonville in a Monday quarterfinal game.

Folsom (7-2) got 15 points from Jordan Ford and 13 from Tre Finch and 11 by Mason Forbes. Folsom plays St. Petersburg in a consolation game Monday.