nike finals

SoCal High School & Prep Report

San Diego Nike Prep Classic:
Pat McKinney On the Finals--(January 2, 1998)

Here's Pat McKinney's take on the finals of the Nike National Prep Classic, played on New Year's Eve at the new Cox Arena on the campus of San Diego State. Pat's article appears here as well as on the University of San Diego High School Dons Basketball site.

San Diego Hoop News

Championship Day at the Nike National Prep Classic

By Pat McKinney

The finals of the Nike National Prep Classic brought some outstanding high school basketball to San Diego, featuring some of the country's top teams. The tournament was played in three divisions, with champions named in the Classic Division, the Governor's Cup, and the Mayor's Trophy.

The showcase game was in the Classic Division, featuring #7 in the nation St. Anthony of Jersey City and St. Dominic of Oyster Bay, New York. St. Anthony's is absolutely huge, with 7' junior center Josh Moore and a backcourt with players 6'-4" and 6'-5". St. Dominic, on the other hand, has no one on their roster over 6'-3", but plays a calculated, pressure defense.

In this game, however, St. Anthony's (6-0) proved too big and talented and defeated St. Dominic's 64-44. St. Anthony opened up the game 16-2 and made it no contest early. Moore scored 22 to go with 14 rebounds and he was helped by Amin Norris with 15 and 14 more from Robert Cheeks. Marist recruit Sean Kennedy paced St Dominic (4-1) with 33, but it was not enough to overcome the talent of St. Anthony.

More interesting to local observers, however, was the Governor's Cup Championship between #2 Horizon and #3 Rancho Bernardo. Horizon, the Divsion V state runner-up last season, showed (7-2) they are for real with a 72-57 win. Jorge Rodriguez led Horizon with 17, while Detrick Watts added 14.

Rei Rivera led RB (11-4) with 28, but Horizon's defense was too much in this game. Uni transfer Blake Jensen, a 6'-11" senior gives Horizon the height they lack last season. Horizon led 35-34 at the half before stretching it out behind their tenacious defense. Rancho Bernardo also went 2-10 from the free throw line in the second half to seal their fate.

The Mayor's Cup offered another intriguing match-up, between last year's defending Division I champ, Rancho Buena Vista, and the Division II champ, El Camino. #4 RBV (12-1) held on for the 68-64 win behind 20 points from Aaron Abrams over #7 El Camino (7-6). CJ Fellars added 10 to go with 11 boards as RBV controlled the second half. El Camino led 37-34 at the half, but RBV started the second half with an 11-0 run that took the wind out of El Camino. They tied the score at 56 with 5:09 to play but RBV went on another 6-0 run that put the game out of reach.

In the third place game in the Classic Division, Los Angeles Fremont downed Riversive JW North 72-57.