best in the west day one preview

The Best In The West gets underway tomorrow, Saturday, December 26, and will run through Wednesday, December 30. The Best In The West Invitational Tournament, hosted by Lakewood Artesia and coach Wayne Merino, will be running for the 39th year in a row. It will once again feature some of the most prestigious basketball powers on the west coast. This year, the tournament features 32 top teams from around the area, many of whom we've already profiled, and many more who will be previewed in the coming weeks. The Tournament will be held at the Goldmine at Long Beach State, in the West and East Gyms, and also at Lakewood High School. The tournament will run from December 26th through December 30th. The consolation finals are scheduled for 2:35 p.m. in the West Gym on December 30 and the Championship game is set for 9:00 p.m. on the 30th. Artesia and Dominguez are the top two seeds, and if all goes well for them, i.e., if they win four straight, they'll meet in the finals.

The field this year includes the top teams in the area, including No. 1 seed Artesia (Jason Kapono, Jack Martinez, Apolinar Fernandez), No. 2 seed Compton Dominguez (Tyson Chandler, Keilon Fortune, Keith Kincaide), No. 3 seed Long Beach Poly (Wesley Stokes, Keyon Cooley), No. 4 seed Compton (Tito Maddox, Ellis Myles, Terry Hosendove), No. 5 seed Verbum Dei (Dalron Johnson, Marlon Parmer), No. 6 seed Clovis West (Ash Knowlton, Chris Lopez), No. 7 seed Long Beach Jordan (Trayvon Bryant, Darren Peterson, Craig Calloway), and No. 8 seed Bishop Montgomery (Gabriel Hughes, Tony Booker, Errick and Derrick Craven). Others will include Pomona, Ayala, Compton Centennial, Harvard-Westlake, LA Washington, Canyon Springs, Hanford, Bonita Vista, LA Jordan, Los Angeles High School, Antelope Valley, Serra, Morningside, Perris, Damien, San Pedro and Palisades.

Here's the first day's game schedule for the 39th Best in the West Invitational, which will take place on December 26th.

East Gym	At Cal State Long Beach
Time	Game
10:00 a.m.	LA Washington v. Pomona
11:30 a.m.	Canyon Springs v. Pasadena
1:05 p.m	Hanford v. Ayala
2:40 p.m.	Compton Centennial v. Bellarmine Prep
4:10 p.m	Palisades v. Laguna Creek
5:45 p.m.	Bonita Vista v. Bakersfield
7:15 p.m.	Antelope Valley v. Bishop Montgomery
8:50 p.m.	Clovis West v. LA Jordan

West Gym	At Cal State Long Beach
10:15 a.m	Serra v. Burbank
11:45 a.m.	Lakewood v. Verbum Dei
1:20 p.m.	Morningside v. Harvard-Westlake
2:55 p.m.	Long Beach Jordan v. Los Angeles H.S.
4:25 p.m.	Perris v. Compton
6:00 p.m.	Artesia v. Millikan
7:30 p.m.	Long Beach Poly v. Damien
9:05 p.m.	San Pedro v. Dominguez

The second round games will take place on the 28th, and all first round consolation bracket games will be held at Lakewood High School, starting with the first game at 10:00 a.m. and continuing every 1.5 hours. The winner's bracket games will be split between the East and West Gym at Long Beach State, and will start at 10:15. All third round games will also be played on the 28th. We'll try to have updates regularly, but we can't promise they'll be as regular as some would like.

This will be one of the best winter tournaments around, and you'll want to be there to see it all. Unless of course you're in San Diego or elsewhere, but then you'll be missing the action.