Top O.C. Teams Set for Nevada Holiday : Prep basketball: Four big tournaments are played this week amid the glitz and dust of Las Vegas.

LAS VEGAS — Remember when this place was just known as a gambling Mecca?

That was before Tark the Shark and Nevada Las Vegas, professional boxing and the attempted transformation of this city into a family entertainment center.

Now comes high school basketball tournaments, featuring some of the top teams in the nation.

Four prep spectaculars are scheduled here this week and several Orange County teams are featured.

Most notable is the 54-team Holiday Prep Classic, which begins today. It includes Mater Dei, Woodbridge and Santa Ana Valley, three of the county’s top boys’ teams.

Three gymnasiums at two sites, including the main gym at Durango High, will be in use during the event, which will have 106 games played in four days.

Mater Dei (4-1), which finished second here last season, starts at 11 a.m. today against Pittsburgh Baldwin. If the Monarchs win, they’ll face Orem (Utah) at 7:30 p.m. The Monarchs won last week’s Ocean View tournament, holding its three opponents to an average of 45 points.

Woodbridge (9-2), which beat Santa Ana Valley, 83-61, to win the Irvine World News Classic Saturday, plays at 2 p.m. against Minden (Nev.) Douglas. Santa Ana Valley (5-4) plays at 10:30 p.m. against the winner of South Bakersfield-Las Vegas Clark.

Santa Ana Valley has had a rough start. First, the flu hit the players and staff, then standout Olujimi Mann twisted an ankle last Friday. Mann did not play in the loss to Woodbridge and is questionable for this week’s tournament.

If Mann can play, a Holiday Classic showdown might come Wednesday if Santa Ana Valley and Mater Dei meet. A Monarch victory could mean a game with Bellflower St. John Bosco, featuring junior standout Schea Cotton. Cotton began his career at St. John Bosco as a freshman, then led Mater Dei to the state Division I title last season.

Some of the other top teams entered include defending champion Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy, Troy (N.Y.) Redemption Christian, defending Nevada triple-A titlist Durango, Radnor (Pa.) Archbishop Carroll and Durham (N.C.) Mt. Zion Christian Academy. Oak Hill, ranked No. 3 in a Student Sports magazine preseason poll, beat Mater Dei, 50-41, at the Nike Extravaganza Dec. 8. Mater Dei’s only loss last year was to Oak Hill, 55-53, in the Holiday Classic final.

Other California teams of note include Long Beach Poly, Los Angeles Westchester, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Los Angeles Fremont, ranked No. 1 in the state in the preseason poll by Student Sport. In Henderson, Nev., at Basic High, the 16-team elite division of the Lady Wolves Invitational features the nation’s 10th-ranked team, Woodbridge, along with Brea Olinda and Edison.

Woodbridge was placed in the same bracket as Oregon City, the nation’s top-ranked team, and that could mean a matchup between the two at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Woodbridge (4-0) opens at 2:30 p.m. today against North Las Vegas. Brea Olinda (7-1) plays at 9:30 a.m. against Palmdale and Edison plays a local team, Redemptorist, at 11 a.m. Brea and Edison could meet in Thursday’s third round.

So what’s the big fascination with Las Vegas and prep basketball tournaments?

“I’m not ever going to be accused of ducking competition,” said Kevin Stipp, first-year coach at Santa Ana Valley. “We want to play against the best.”

Woodbridge Coach John Halagan agreed: “There’s not a lot of stiffs in this tournament, just a lot of prominent schools from across the country.”

It might help, though, that this tournament is being held here and not in Sheboygan. With budgets getting tighter, Orange County coaches like the inexpensive buffet lines all over town, and easy access to entertainment for kids.

The tournament, sponsored by Reebok, picks up the tab for five rooms per team. Savvy teams book into huge hotel complexes using discount rates. Mater Dei, for example, is staying at The Excalibur at a rate of $30 per night.

But one would be foolish not to admit that this is Las Vegas.

“It’s fun for adults and it can be OK for the kids,” Stipp said.

This is the 19th year of the Holiday Classic, making it the oldest prep basketball tournament in Nevada.

“This is the best national-type tournament. You got 50-some odd teams from everywhere,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “When you play that type of competition this time of year it will help you win that last game of the year later on.”