Spotlight on Monday’s area tournaments

By Mitch Stephens

Quick. What do Leon Powe, Aaron Gordon, Ryan Anderson, Luke Babbitt and Jared Cunningham have in common?

Besides all having made it to the NBA, each played in the MaxPreps/ De La Salle Martin Luther King Classic, which celebrates its 20th anniversary Monday at St. Mary’s College.

All five were selected to the All-MLK Classic teams recently picked by yours truly. Powe (Oakland Tech), Gordon (Mitty), Anderson (Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills) and Cunningham (San Leandro) were first-team picks, and Babbitt (Galena-Reno) was second team.

The selections were based 50 percent on prep careers and 50 percent on post-prep accomplishments. The event returns to St. Mary’s, which hosted the first nine events. The next 10 were hosted at Cal’s Haas Pavilion.

“We’ve had a lot of great players run through this tournament,” De La Salle athletic director Leo Lopoz said. “It’s an impressive list with more to add on starting Monday.”

DeMarcus Nelson (Vallejo and Sheldon Sacramento) was the fifth first-teamer on the list. He graduated from high school as the state’s career scoring leader before heading to Duke. He had a short stint with the Warriors, but found greater success in Europe.

Others to make the team of 20: Second-team: Ivan Rabb (Bishop O’Dowd Oakland), Dior Lowhorn (Riordan, Berkeley), Jabari Bird (Salesian Richmond) and Jabari Brown (Salesian, Oakland). Third team: Marcus Lee (Deer Valley-Antioch), Brandon Ashley (Bishop O’Dowd), Theo Robertson (De La Salle-Concord), Will Cherry (McClymonds-Oakland) and Alex Harris (St. Joseph Notre Dame-Alameda). Fourth team: DeVon Hardin and Kyle Spain (Newark Memorial), Kyle Roemer and Brandon Smith (De La Salle) and Tim Pierce (Fremont Oakland, Hercules).

The top players in Monday’s event are largely wing players, including Harvard-Westlake of Studio City’s Cassius Stanley, a 6foot-6 shooting guard.

Ranked the top sophomore in the state and 13th best player overall by 247Sports, Stanley is known for his spectacular dunks and blocks. He’s averaging a teambest 19 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the Division IV defending state champions.

He’ll be matched against host De La Salle, which boasts one of the most intriguing players in Emeka Udenyi, a 6-6, 230-pound power forward who averages more than 12 points and 10 rebounds for the NorCal Open defending champions.

MLK “I Have a Dream” Basketball Classic: The eighth annual event at Merritt College features seven games, including two Oakland Athletic League versus West Catholic Athletic League matchups: Oakland against St. Ignatius and Fremont Oakland versus Sacred Heart Cathedral.

While six of the 14 teams do not have winning records, the one with a sparkling 17-1 mark is University, off to the best start since coach Randy Bessolo took over 12 years ago. The Red Devils won at least 21 games in each of the previous 10 seasons.

University’s leading scorer is Spencer Spivy, a 6-4 junior point guard who was named MVP of tournaments at Jefferson and Atascadero.

University’s loss was 66-62 to No. 13 Mission (16-1) on Dec. 21.

Saturday’s games BOYS

#9 St. Francis 66, #15 Serra 59: Jake Mihanovic had 32 points and nine rebounds and Logan Johnson chipped in 16 points as the host Lancers (11-3, 2-2 West Catholic Athletic League) held off the Padres (8-6, 2-2). Mihanovic scored 13 in the second quarter as St. Francis outscored Serra 20-5 to take a 31-19 lead into the break. Serra cut its deficit to five points, but St. Francis stretched the lead to 41-32 by the end of the quarter, thanks in part to an acrobatic layup by Mihanovic, which served as a response to a one-handed dunk by Serra sophomore Parker McDonald (10 points).

Serra cut the deficit to 41-37 early in the fourth before Mihanovic scored eight points and sophomore Roy Yuan hit two three-pointers as St. Francis used a 15-3 run to stretch its lead to 5640. Other games: Riley Grigsby had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Joseph Vaughn added 12 points and No. 10 Mitty (8-6, 3-1 WCAL) had a 35-6 run in the second and third quarters in its 60-39 win at Sacred Heart Cathedral (6-7, 0-4) . ... No. 8 St. Ignatius (12-1, 4-0 WCAL) won 71-53 over visiting Valley Christian (9-5, 1-3) . ... At the Piedmont MLK Classic, Niamey Harris had 31 points and Tyrese Johnson 16 as Mission posted a 76-72 double-overtime win over Central CatholicModesto (12-4).

GIRLS

MLK Showcase at St. Mary’s-Stockton: No. 7 Bishop O’Dowd-Oakland (12-3) overcame a 14point deficit with a 34-6 run to win 58-48 over No. 3 Cardinal NewmanSanta Rosa (12-3). Myah Pace had 14 points and seven rebounds and Zakiya Mahoney added 12 and eight for Bishop O’Dowd. Cardinal Newman was led by Hailey Vice-Neat (13 points) and Lauren Walker (10 points, seven blocks). … IImar’I Thomas had 39 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks as No. 8 Sacred Heart Cathedral (8-6) won 84-70 over Fairmont Prep-Anaheim (11-5). … No. 2 Salesian (9-5) lost 47-31 against Mission Hills-San Marcos (15-1). Makayla Edwards paced Salesian with 10 points.