Mater Dei vs. St. John Bosco among this week’s top games

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL NOTES

Mater Dei forward Blake Davidson, left, blocks a shot by St. John Bosco guard Brandon McCoy Jr. in a Trinity League game last season. The teams square off Friday at Intuit Dome. Photo by Paul Rodriguez

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By Steve Fryer

sfryer@scng.com

League play began for some Orange County high school basketball teams in recent weeks, but it really gets going this week.

The schedule is loaded with outstanding matchups, including a showdown in the Trinity League between Mater Dei and St. John Bosco on Friday night at Intuit Dome. That game is part of a new event, the Trinity-Mission League Showcase, being played at the new home of the Clippers.

Among the many new-look leagues this season is the five-team Crestview League that consists of Canyon, Crean Lutheran, Cypress, Foothill and La Habra. All five of those teams are in the top 15 of this week’s Orange County Top 25.

In the Crestview League tonight: Canyon (13-4) plays its league opener at Cypress (14-7, 0-1), and Crean Lutheran (6-8) plays its league opener at La Habra (17-4, 1-0).

Wednesday’s Sunset League includes No. 3 Los Alamitos (10-6, 3-0) at No. 10 Corona del Mar (17-2, 3-0).

The Trinity League’s Santa Margarita and JSerra are 1-2 in the county rankings. They play each other Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Intuit Dome, followed by Mater Dei-St. John Bosco at 6:30 p.m.

NOTES

Corona del Mar’s two losses this season were close ones: 46-44 to Oaks Christian and 49-48 to Camarillo. ...

Beau Budde has taken a break from coaching the boys basketball team at University. Budde said he had to attend to a health matter in his family. Kendall McHugh, who was University’s junior varsity boys basketball coach, has been promoted to varsity coach. ...

Senior forward Brandon Benjamin is averaging 31 points a game for Canyon. But that’s not a one-man team. Senior guard Staf Yilmazturk is averaging 19 points a game. ...

Other top scorers in Orange County, according to the statistical information at Maxpreps.com, include Jaiden Sabino of Woodbridge and Jason Le of Westminster at 25 points per game; Mason Hodges of San Juan Hills, Christian Fernandez of San Clemente and Christopher Trotter of Saddleback each at 24 points per game; and Michael Ahern of Capistrano Valley Christian, Luke Barnett of Mater Dei and Damian Navarro of Mission Viejo each at 23 points per game.

Orangewood Academy has had high-quality teams over the years, but it does not have a boys basketball team this season. Students at Orangewood who want to play boys basketball can play elsewhere according to CIF rules that allow students who want to play a sport that is not offered at their school to participate in that sport at a different school. ...

The top playoff division in CIF Southern Section boys basketball has been called the Open Division in recent years because teams would be pulled from other divisions to be placed into the elite Open Division. Although that won’t happen this season, because ratings will determine which teams go into the divisions including the top division, the Open Division name sticks for at least this season.