Season kicks into high gear with 3 Bay Area events
Bay Area high school basketball season gets into full swing Saturday with three major events: the Pinole Valley Tip Off Classic for girls as well as two boys events, the NorCal Tip Off Classic at Dublin High School and the Bishop O’Dowd Thanksgiving Showcase.
The O’Dowd Showcase, in its second day, features two Southern California powers: San Diego Section’s Torrey Pines and Los Angeles’ Campbell Hall, which previously boasted the NBA Holiday brothers, Jrue, Justin and Aaron.
Torrey Pines plays Inderkum-Sacramento at 2 p.m., followed by Oakland Tech versus Moreau Catholic-Hayward (3:30 p.m.), Benicia against Bishop O’Dowd (5 p.m.) and Campbell Hall taking on Salesian-Richmond (6:30 p.m.). Salesian (26-9) was ranked No. 3 preseason by the Chronicle and No. 9 in California by SBLive Sports. The Pride feature All-Metro point guards Aaron Hunkin-Claytor, Alvin Loving and Amani Johnson, along with 6foot-5 sophomore Leon Powe, the son of the former Oakland Tech, Cal and NBA standout by the same name.
Bishop O’Dowd, ranked No. 12 by the Chronicle, relies on seniors Leo Chapman, Samuel Chavarin and Tobias Aisien, along with junior Josh Green.
The NorCal Tip Off field is absolutely stacked, featuring seven Chronicle-ranked teams, including No. 1 Riordan versus Southern California power Roosevelt-Eastvale, ranked fourth in the state (with Riordan at No. 5). That game tips off at 2 p.m. The other big NorCal-SoCal matchup is Chronicle No. 5 De La Salle-Concord against 2022 state champion Centennial-Corona, ranked sixth preseason in California. That scheduled tip-off is 8:30 p.m.
Other games involving Metro teams: Head-Royce of Oakland vs. Bellarmine (8 a.m.), Ygnacio ValleyConcord vs. LincolnStockton (9:30 a.m.), No. 12 Dublin vs. No. 15 St. Ignatius (11 a.m.), No. 6 San Ramon Valley-Danville vs. Capital Christian-Sacramento (5:15 p.m.) and No. 2 Mitty vs. No. 4 BransonRoss (7 p.m.).
The one-day event features at least 11 seniors who have committed to Division I college programs, headed by Centennial’s Eric Freeny (UCLA) and Carter Bryant (Arizona). The others are Roosevelt’s Darnez Slater (Colorado State), Branson’s Jase Butler (Illinois), Mitty’s Gavin Ripp (San Diego) and Tyler Jones (UC Riverside), Riordan’s Zion Sensley (St. Mary’s), Kaia Berridge (Evansville) and Jordy McKenzie (Eastern Washington), Vanden’s Tyler Thompson (Montana) and Weston RanchStockton’s Mateen Rafiq (Cornell).
Nationally ranked junior prospects include Roosevelt’s Brayden Burries, Riordan’s Jasir Rencher, Branson’s Semetri Carr and De La Salle’s Alec Blair.
At Pinole Valley, seven games and five Chronicleranked teams are featured, which will finish off with the 7:30 p.m. tilt between No. 2 Oakland Tech and No. 5 San Ramon Valley. Oakland Tech, the defending state Division 1 champion, is led by the trio of Taliyah Logwood and sophomores Terri’A Russell and Jhai Johnson (a 6-3 wing and daughter of NFL quarterback Josh Johnson).
San Ramon Valley returns nine key players from last year’s 28-5 squad, including Southern Utah signee Sierra Chambers, Cal Poly signee Avery Knapp and Sofia Bowes.
The other games are St. Mary’s-Berkeley versus Dublin (10:30 a.m.), Pinole Valley versus Eureka (noon), Redwood-Larkspur against Cornerstone Christian-Antioch (1:30 p.m.), Acalanes-Lafayette vs. Antelope (3 p.m.), Bishop O’Dowd versus McClatchy-Sacramento (4:30 p.m.) and Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa versus St. Mary’s-Stockton (6 p.m.).
O’Dowd is ranked No. 3 by the Chronicle, Cardinal Newman No. 7 and Acalanes No. 9. St. Mary’sStockton boasts ESPN’s No. 7-ranked senior in the nation, Jordan Lee, a Texas signee. She scored 47 points last season against Oakland Tech in a NorCal final defeat. Cardinal Newman returns Kate Schat (15.2 points per game) and may have Brazilian transfer Taissa Queiroz, who has college offers from Cal, St. Mary’s and San Diego State.