Redondo, Palisades the places to be for holiday hoops action
What's Thanksgiving without a little hoops?
The high school basketball season tips off this week and two of the better tournaments around are right here in the Southland.
On the boys' side it's the 63rd Annual Pacific Shores Tournament. The host site for the tournament is Redondo High School.
There was a full slate of games on Monday with some surprises.
Calabasas took Mayfair to three overtimes and upset the Monsoons led by Oregon-bound guard Kendall Small, 84-77.
In other first round matchups, Hart nearly upset defending Division II state champion St. John Bosco, 58-55. Host Redondo knocked off Narbonne, 75-47. Compton defeated Campbell Hall, 80-68. Lawndale led by USC-signee Chimezie Metu fell to Inglewood, 70-58.
Originally scheduled to have off days Wednesday and Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving, those days were switched to Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday was a dark day for the tournament as the Redondo girls volleyball team opened up state playoff action.
CIF-SS semifinal weekend surprises
Wednesday action will resume with four quarterfinal games beginning with Compton and St. John Bosco at 3:30pm. Redondo and Serra will conclude the night at 8pm.
On the girls side, Palisades High School is the place to be for the 11th Annual Palisades Beach Invitational.
Of the 16-team field, 13 of those teams hail from the CIF Southern Section. The field includes some of the top teams in the state -Troy, Chaminade, Windward, and Mater Dei.
Tournament play began Tuesday night and the Monarchs rolled Long Beach Milikan, 95-36, in first round action. Serra fell to Bakersfield Garces, 60-53, in overtime.
Wednesday Mater Dei will face host Palisades in quarterfinal action at 7pm.
There will be no games on Thanksgiving.
Championship games in both tournaments are scheduled for Saturday night at 7:30pm at Redondo and 8:30pm at Palisades.