poly artesia announce

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Poly-Artesia Winter Classic Saturday
At Long Beach State--(January 27, 1998)

Bet you thought all the one day exhibitions were done after the MLK event at Pauley? No way. Maybe you believed the Nike Extravaganza III at the Bren Center on Saturday February 8, 1998 was the last big event before the CIF and State Playoffs?

No way.

This Saturday, January 31, 1998 at the Pyramid at Long Beach State, the POLY-ARTESIA WINTER CLASSIC will be held from 3:00 pm until probably around 10:30 or 11:00 pm, when the last game is concluded. Check out this lineup of teams at this great exhibition event:

3:00 PM Serra, Gardena vs. Long Beach Wilson

4:30 PM Mater Dei, Santa Ana vs. Cerritos Gahr

6:00 PM Long Beach Poly vs. Lakewood Artesia

8:30 PM Compton High vs. Compton Dominguez

What an event! What we want to know is how did they manage to keep it a secret for so long?

This event is going to feature some great matchups: Poly v. Artesia: Anderson, Stokes, et.al. vs. Kapono, Fernandez & Co. Hope it's higher scoring than Poly's last game at the MLK. Santa Ana Mater Dei v. Gahr--great games against two young teams. Serra v. Wilson, another good matchup. But it's the final match that we're sure everyone is waiting for: The unofficial Compton City title, land possibly yet another preview of a possible "State Championship": Compton v. Dominguez. This could also be another "match of the year" type of game, like the Westchester v. Dominguez game which Dominguez won, although we're willing to go out on a limb and say that Dominguez is a team which has virtually nothing to gain by playing this game and a whole lot to lose (in terms of reputation and possible rankings), while Compton can only more firmly establish itself with a win here. DeAndre Moore vs. Willie Hurst; Tayshaun Prince v. ?? Milton Riley probably, or maybe even Tito Maddox at times (depending where Tayshaun decides to play), and Tyson Chandler v. David Hamilton. We'll see how the younger, lighter but definitely taller Tyson does against the more aggressive, heavier and certainly more volatile Hamilton.

This will be a great event. We have zero information on ticket prices, but if it's like most of these events, the tickets probably won't go for more than $5 or $6 for adults. We'll have some more information later. What a great way to spend a Saturday night. And SoCalHoops plans on being there.

You should be there too. Don't miss it.