Valley’s Top Cage Teams Shoot at Prestigious L.A. Games Title

Many of the top boys basketball teams in the San Gabriel Valley will compete in the 20th L.A. Games on Saturday and Sunday throughout Los Angeles.

Nineteen valley teams, including Muir, Bishop Amat and Bosco Tech, will compete in the 128-team tournament headed by L. A. City powers Fairfax and Crenshaw. Many valley teams will also participate in girls basketball, football, baseball, soccer, water polo and girls volleyball which also start Saturday.

The showcase event is boys basketball, the largest cage tournament in the nation and first prep tournament of the summer.

Among top first-round games for valley teams, Edgewood faces Saddleback at 10 a.m. at L. A. Jordan High, Muir meets South Gate at 11 at Jordan, Pomona takes on Eagle Rock at 11 at L. A. Banning High, Glendora plays Rubidoux at noon at Dorsey High, Bishop Amat meets El Segundo at 1 p.m. at Hamilton High, Bosco Tech faces El Dorado at 1 at Fremont High, Blair plays L.A. University at 2 at El Camino College and Pasadena meets Ocean View at 4 at El Camino.

Other first-round games include Alhambra vs. Dorsey at 9 a.m. at Dorsey, Monrovia vs. Bishop Montgomery at 10 at Fremont, Bassett vs. Temple City at 11 at Fremont, Rowland vs. Ventura at noon at Banning, Bonita vs. Alemany at 11 at Carson, Duarte vs. Los Alamitos at 11 at El Camino, Arcadia vs. Birmingham at noon at El Camino, San Dimas vs. Redondo at 3 at El Camino, Rosemead vs. Cerritos at noon at Jordan and Garey vs. Long Beach Jordan at 3 at L.A. Jordan.

Muir, Bosco Tech and Glendora have excellent front lines. Muir is led by 6-8 forward Wayne Womack, who averaged 12 points and 9 rebounds last year; Bosco Tech by 6-7 forward Carlos Carrillo, who averaged 14.7 points and 9.9 rebounds, and Glendora by 6-6 forward Tracy Murray, who averaged 23.3 points and 10 rebounds.

Bishop Amat has a strong corps of veterans that includes 6-7 forward Geoff Lear and 6-1 guard Stephon Pace. Two other standouts at guard are twins Terrance and Clarence Lamb.

Cross-town rivals Muir and Pasadena head a list of 12 valley schools in the 64-team girls basketball tournament.

Muir, which meets Bell at 3 p.m. at Washington High, is expected to be one of the top teams in the CIF Southern Section next season. The Mustangs are led by All-CIF center Tasha Bradley, 6-3, who averaged 24.7 points and 20.3 rebounds last season, and 5-10 guard Angela Grant, who averaged 15 points and 10 assists.

Pasadena, which faces Sylmar at 3 p.m. at Locke High, is led by 5-9 forward Anitra Wilkins, who averaged 13.3 points and 10.9 rebounds last season.

Among other first-round games are Temple City vs. Gahr at 3 p.m. at Los Angeles High, Pomona vs. Santa Barbara at 8 a.m. at Manual Arts, San Dimas vs. Hawthorne at 11 at Manual Arts, Ganesha vs. Chino at 3 at Manual Arts, Western Christian vs. Lynwood at 8 a.m. at Locke, Rowland vs. Palmdale at 10 at Locke, Blair vs. Buena at 8 a.m. at Washington, West Covina vs. L.A. Jordan at noon at Washington and Bishop Amat vs. Ventura at 2 at Washington.

Two-time defending CIF Coastal Conference champion Muir is the top valley club in the 64-team football competition. Muir, which won the seven-man passing tournament two years ago, faces Torrance in its opener at 9:35 a.m. at West Torrance High.

In other top games, all at West Torrance, Blair meets South Torrance at 11:45 and Monrovia plays L. A. Wilson and Pasadena faces Birmingham at 4.

CIF 4-A Division power Bishop Amat heads six valley teams in the 32-team baseball tournament. The Lancers play their opening game against Morningside at 3 p.m. at L. A. Harbor College. In another top game, Glendora faces Jefferson at noon at El Camino College.

The valley’s top hopes in the 32-team boys soccer tournament are Damien and Muir, which draw tough L. A. City opponents at the Granada Hills Youth Recreation Center. Muir meets Chatsworth at 10:10 a.m. and Damien faces San Fernando at 12:30.

South Pasadena and Muir may be the top valley clubs in the 32-team water polo tournament at El Camino College. South Pasadena meets Palm Springs and Muir faces La Puente in first-round matches.

The valley also has six teams in girls volleyball pool play. Arcadia, El Monte and La Verne Lutheran will play at Redondo High and Charter Oak, Bishop Amat and Alhambra at West Torrance.

Preliminary match-ups in all sports are Saturday and Sunday. The final rounds are June 27 and 28 at El Camino.

New Cal Poly Pomona basketball coach Dave Bollwinkel has signed three transfers to letters of intent for next season.

The players, who will be juniors next season, are 6-6 forward Tony Davis from San Joaquin Delta College, 6-1 guard Chris Jefferson from Rancho Santiago College and 6-5 forward Forrest Barnes from New Mexico Military Institute.

Jefferson, a former Verbum Dei High standout, was named to the All-Orange Empire Conference first team after averaging 17.4 points, 3.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds last season. “Chris adds another fine player to an already good group of guards,” Bollwinkel said. “He has great speed and quickness, which we’ll make great use of in our style of play.”

Davis, a 215-pounder, averaged 9 points and 8.7 rebounds and made 52% of his field-goal attempts last season. The 210-pound Barnes averaged 8 points and 5.7 rebounds.

Arcadia High, which finished second to Loyola in CIF 3-A boys volleyball, has placed two players on the division’s all-star team.

Perry Carter was selected to the first team and Brian Daly made the second. Jeff Wildenboer of South Pasadena made the first team and Ian Kindler of Los Altos the second.