Tarkanian Classic Platinum Division Final (12/21, PST)
St. Pius-St. Matthias (Calif.) 7-1 vs. Desert Mountain (Ariz.) 9-1, 4:30 pm
Tarkanian Classic Ball Dawgs Division Final (12/21, PST)
Weston Ranch (Stockton, Calif.) 6-1 vs. Liberty Magnet (Baton Rouge, La.) 12-2, 1:30 pm
Tarkanian Classic Spalding Division Final (12/21, PST)
Poly (Riverside, Calif.) 10-3 vs. Carlsbad (Calif.) 9-1, 12 pm

St. Pius-St. Matthias (Downey, Calif.) doesn't always win pretty and tends to start slow, but if it wins and advances, the players don't care. That team-first philosophy had produced results at the 11th annual Tarkanian Classic and has put the Warriors in position to play for the Platinum Division championship.

The Warriors took on St. Augustine (9-2) and the CIF San Diego Section power led 36-32 at halftime in the semifinal contest. Saints was seemingly in control until St. Pius-St. Matthias (7-1) picked up the defense and started making timely buckets to post a 62-50 victory to advance to Thursday's 4:30 pm (PT) championship game.

St. Pius, which lone loss this season is to California No. 1 and FAB 50 No. 9 Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) by one point in a road game, led 48-45 at the end of the third period, but Saint's first field goal of the final period came with just four minutes remaining in the eight minute stanza. St. Augustine finished with 14 points after intermission. Jaden Bailes, a sophomore guard and Saints' leading scorer in their first two tourney games, had 14 points, but only two after halftime.

St. Augustine had trouble slowing down Pius X big man Doug Langford, who forced double teams inside, created lanes for teammates and worked the offensive glass. The highly-recruited 2025 power forward finished with 20 points and seven rebounds.

San Francisco-bound wing Tyrone Riley of St. Pius-St. Matthias is similar to all-time great middleweight boxing champ Marvin Hager; he can be a slow starter but is a productive and championship player. Riley's mere presence is a threat to foes and he came up with timely shots and clutch rebounds in the second half vs. St. Augustine to finish with eight points.

"We came into the tournament with the mindset to win it (the title)," Riley said.

The Warriors are a scrappy bunch that never get too high or too low on themselves and received some timely second half shots from 6-foot-2 2024 (senior) Tylon Williams. Five-foot-8 2024 David Mack, the unsung hero of Tuesday's quarterfinal victory over FAB 50 No. 44 Alta (Sandy, Utah) with 20 points, came through again late vs. Saints for his team, which trailed by nine points in the second half in its first round win over Coronado (Henderson, Nev.) and by as much as 16 points in the second quarter in the big win over Alta. With 1:21 to go and St. Pius holding on to a 56-50 lead, Mack's slicing lay-up was a big moment and on the other end on Saints' next possession, he came up with a big rebound to put his team firmly in control.

"I just do whatever is needed for us to win," said Mack, a transfer from L.A. Fairfax. "We're just focused on winning."

The Warriors know how to come from behind to win and win in a variety of ways, but they probably can't afford too much of a slow start against their foe in the Platinum Division championship game. That's because Desert Mountain, a young outfit from Scottsdale, Ariz., that starts a pair of brothers who are sophomores and freshmen, have jumped all over teams and kept up the offensive pressure for 32 minutes in its first three victories.

The Wolves' 78-65 semifinal victory over Branson (Ross, Calif.) was no different, as they got it going early to move to 9-1 on the season and handed the Bulls their second loss (7-2 overall). All five of Desert Mountain's starters scored in the first period, as the Wolves led 17-10 after eight minutes.

All four of the Wolves' young perimeter players can burst by defenders, stop on a dime and pop the jumper or whip a pass, but their best player, 6-foot-3 sophomore Kaden House, simply does those things on another level than his peers in the national 2026 class. He is putting forth a show-stopping performance in Sin City and was already up to 20 points at halftime as his team led Branson, 40-30.

Junior guard Semetri Carr (24 points), a blur of a ball-handler himself, kept the Bulls in the game but they couldn't get over the hump dispite a 15-2 run that put Branson (which also got 23 points from Illinois-bound senior guard Jase Butler) within a point at 47-46 after trialing 45-31. The Branson run was stopped by a timely bucket by freshman (2027) guard Jabron Bardwell. From there Desert Mountain, which lost its only game of the season on a buzzer-beating shot by Pinnacle of Arizona, led 58-48 at the end of the third period with House up to 34 points.

In the end, the sophomore sensation was the difference in the game, as he once again nailed his free throws and sliced through the defense to the tune of 43 points and also had nine rebounds. Through three Platinum Division games, he's scored 104 points, good for a 34.7 ppg. One will be hard pressed to find a hotter player in the country or a better all-around guard in the West Region.

A star has been born in a city that has produced many of them over the years in scholastic and grassroots basketball, but the job is not done yet. St. Pius-St. Matthias may not have the same type of flash, but all it does is do its job and close out games.

The contrasting styles will make for quite the interesting Tarkanian Classic championship game.

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at?[email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter:?@RonMFlores

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RELATED: A Columbus Coronation At Section 7

Jase Butler, Branson (Ross, Calif.) CG 6-4 2024
As one college coach said, Butler has "changed his life" in the past week and the offers are starting to roll in since the conclusion of the Section 7 Team Camp at State Farm Arena in Arizona. Butler's offensive approach makes college coaches sleep a bit better at night because he doesn't do anything out of his element, takes what is there and does the little things that affect winning. Butler has broad shoulders and knows how to use contact with defenders to gain an advantage, is also unselfish and a quality passer. We've known about Butler's exploits for some time, but also wanted to shout out his teammate, Semetri Carr, a 2025 point guard. Our evaluations of Carr put him much too low in the Cal-Hi Sports Hot 100 rankings for the Class of 2025 prospects in California, but he'll be ranked accordingly in the next shuffle. He was terrific as well over the June Scholastic events of the past two weekends.

Jalin Holland, Los Lunas (N.M.) SG 6-4 2025
Section 7 is a perfect environment for a team like Los Lunas and a player like Holland who is not near a populated city or in a region known as a hoops hot bed. In a pretty equal playing field as the one Section 7 offers, it doesn't matter, as the creme rises to the top and Holland definitely is a talent. He ended Section 7 with a reported 32.5 ppg average and now has offers from seven schools, including Missouri, Washington St., and TCU. Holland (whose father is a NCAA ref) has a terrific frame to absorb contact and sees the court a step ahead of most of his defenders. He is good in ball screen situations, can change direction well (which is a very underrated skill), and shoots it well on the move. He'll be a hot commodity during the July evaluation period.

Jasir Rencher, Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) SF 6-5 2025
The Crusaders have an abundance of talented prospects and were a team college coaches were eager to see after the team did not participate in California Live '23. Rencher was one whom did not disappoint, as he was scoring and rebounding at a high clip and playing well both off and on the ball as he improves his ball-handling. Rencher has high-major shot making ability and a nice pull-up jumper that he utilized well over the weekend. Rencher has a background as a multi-sport athlete and has a frame that stands out, especially since he can square up so well on his jumper. Some high majors are showing interest and he reports an offer from Minnesota.

Gavin Ripp, Archbishop Mitty (San Jose, Calif.) PF 6-7 2024
Winning certainly puts the spotlight on players and few took advantage as much at Section 7 as this do-it-all forward was able to. Ripp does a little bit of everything, and no particular facet of his game is a glaring weakness. He can handle it enough to use in a point forward situation and does a good job of converting around the basket while making plays for others. Ripp also had good touch on a variety of shots and is critical to the success of his Mitty team. He not only led Mitty to the NFHS Arizona Sports Commission division title, he also led his Monarchs team to a title in the Chevy Silverado Division at Cali Live in Southern California the weekend prior. His parents were terrific volleyball athletes and with his excellent 4.5 GPA, he'll be a perfect addition to a school with a high academic profile.

Jaden Steppe, Tualatin (Ore.) PF 6-7 2024
This powerfully built front court player is listed as a power forward, but his game is so much more than what a traditional player at that position does. He's a mismatch problem as a face-up four man who can step away from the basket and keep defenses honest with his perimeter shooting. Steppe can also push it off the glass and make good decisions, as well as score it in a variety of ways. In addition to his skill level, Steppe has good feel and hands and was credited with a monster performance against Campbell Hall (North Hollywood, Calif.), finishing with a reported 40 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. No wonder schools such as Montana State, UC Santa Barbara and Weber State have now offered.

More Stock-Risers
Aside from players already committed who played well at the event, the five previously mentioned above or in our event recap article, below is a list of players we evaluated at State Farm Arena who played better since our last eval and/or improved their recruiting stock with colleges of various levels (listed alphabetically by class).

2024s
Anthony Batson, Notre Dame Prep (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 6-3 SG
Donovan Beard, Dobson (Mesa, Ariz.) 6-0 PG
Jai Anthony Bearden, Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-6 PF
Kaia Berridge, Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) 6-3 PG
Samuel Chaverin, Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) 6-3 SG
Tiger Cuff, American Fork (Utah), 6-4 PG
Makhan Diouf, Bella Vista Prep (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 6-11 2024
Dutch Dowdell, Olympus (Holladay, Utah) 6-4 CG
Tony Duckett, Carlsbad (Calif.) 6-3 SG
Cole Epperson, Jesuit (Carmichael, Calif.) 6-7 PF
Winters Grady, Tualatin (Ore.) PF 6-7
Trevor Henning, Mount Si (Snoqualmie, Wash.) 6-3 CG
Jaxon Johnson, Alta (Sandy, Utah) 6-7 SF
Brody Kozlowski, Corner Canyon (Draper, Utah) 6-7 SF
Kyle Lemke, Dixie (St. George, Utah) 6-8 PF
Austin Maurer, Cascade Christian (Medford, Ore.) 6-10 PF
Brycen Mackenzie, Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach, Calif.) 6-2 PG
Darrell Morris, West Ranch (Valencia, Calif.) 5-10 PG
R.J. Nance, Centennial (Las Vegas, Nev.) 6-2 PG
Ring Nyeri, Liberty (Peoria, Ariz.) 6-8 PF
Devin Ringer, Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) 6-4 SG
Luke Shaw, Valley Christian (Chandler, Ariz.) 6-2 CG
Braeden Speed, Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-3 CG
Gavin Sykes, Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) 6-4 SG
Jordan Tillery, Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.) 6-6 SF
Tyler Thompson, Vanden (Travis AFB, Calif.) 6-4 WF
Sammie Yeanay, AZ Compass Prep (Chandler, Ariz.) 6-8 PF

2025s
Brandon Benjamin, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 6-5 SF
Semetri Carr, Branson (Ross, Calif.) 6-0 PG
Benny Fragela, Columbus (Miami, Fla.) 6-3 SG
Jake Hall, Carlsbad (Calif.) 6-3 SG
Nick Jefferson, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) 6-1 CG
Doug Langford, St. Pius X-St. Matthias Academy (Downey, Calif.) 6-8 PF
Anthony Moore III, Lincoln (Stockton, Calif.) 6-5 SF
Mazi Mosley, Heritage Christian (Northridge, Calif.) 6-4 PG
Bryce Quinet, Notre Dame Prep (Scottsdale, Ariz.) 6-2 PG
C.J. Shaw, Mojave (Las Vegas, Nev.) 6-3 SG
Dillan Shaw, Heritage Christian (Northridge, Calif.) 6-5 SF
Michael Simcoe, Sandra Day O'Connor (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-8 SF
Jalen Stokes, Dublin (Calif.) 6-4 SF
Kingston Tosi, Millennium (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-6 PF
Jaylen Valdez, Capital Christian (Sacramento, Calif.) 6-0 PG
Owen Verna, Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) 6-3 SG

2026s
Christian Collins, St. Bernard (Playa del Rey, Calif.) 6-7 PF
Andrew Hillman, Riordan (San Francisco, Calif.) 6-3 SG
Chris Holland, Poly (Riverside, Calif.) 6-3 SG
Kaden House, Desert Mountain (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-3 CG
Ty Ingram, San Ysidro (Calif.) 6-3 SG
Myles Jones, Modesto Christian (Calif.) 6-2 CG
Brayden Kyman, Santa Margarita (Rancho SM, Calif.) 6-5 SF
Mason Magee, Basha (Chandler, Ariz.) 6-0 PG
Julius Price, St. Joseph (Santa Maria, Calif.) 6-2 PG
Daylen Sharper, Brophy Prep (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-4 PG
Cristian Simmons, Sunnyslope (Phoenix, Ariz.) 6-7 PF
Joe Sterling, Crespi (Encino, Calif.) 6-4 SG

Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of www.ebooksnet.com. He can be reached at?[email protected]. Don't forget to follow him on Twitter:?@RonMFlores

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