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By Ronnie Flores

The team at Providence Day (Charlotte, N.C.) is the first of many highly-ranked teams in this week's FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by www.ebooksnet.com that figure to capture state titles in the coming weeks. The Chargers wrapped up the North Carolina Independent Schools Athletic Association (NCISAA) Class 3A crown with a 67-53 victory over Kentucky-bound Bam Adebayo and his team at High Point Christian (High Point, N.C.).

It was Providence Day's 20th consecutive victory since a 59-58 setback to FAB 50 No. 19 Greenforest Christian Academy (Decatur, Ga.) and the Chargers are hoping to extend that winning streak before next season. As state champs, FAB 50 No. 9 Providence Day is in the running for a berth in the Dick’s Sporting Goods High School National Tournament held March 31-April 2 in New York City.

Despite the state title game loss, High Point Christian is one of three newcomers in this week's rankings, as it took down previous No. 29 Greensboro Day (Greensboro, N.C.), 51-50, in the state semifinals. To show you just how competitive the NCISAA Class 3A ranks was this season, High Point Christian took two of of three games from Greensboro Day this season, the other win a 50-48 overtime triumph. Greensboro Day won the first meeting by one point, 60-59. High Point re-enters the rankings at No. 45, while Greensboro Day naturally falls one spot below that club.

FAB 50 No. 2 and three-time defending tournament champion Montverde Academy (Montverde, Fla.), No. 3 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.), No. 11 Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), No. 12 St. Benedict’s (newark, N.J.) and No. 16 La Lumiere (La Porte, Ind.) are likely to receive invites to play at Dick's Nationals, with three spots reserved for other deserving and eligible clubs.

Another club that didn't fall out of the rankings after a big loss was No. 39 Morgan Park (Chicago, Ill.), which fell to rival Simeon (Chicago, Ill.) in the Chicago Public League playoff semifinals, 74-72, despite 26 points from standout Charlie Moore. Senior forward Ben Coupet came up huge for Simeon with a season-high 24 points while also collecting seven rebounds. Coach Robert Smith's club won three big games within a 36-hour span, coming back on Saturday to down Evanston (Evanston, Ill.), 55-43, at the City-Suburban Showdown. On Sunday afternoon, the Wolverines captured their seventh City title with a 54-49 victory over Kenwood (Chicago, Ill.) behind 18 points from Gonzaga-bound Zach Norvell while junior Evan Gillard came up big in the clutch with 14 points in the final eight minutes.

We had a rankings dilemma, as Simeon previously lost to FAB 50 ranked and Catholic League champion Fenwick (Oak Park, Ill.). One of Fenwick's two losses was to the Morgan Park team Simeon downed in the semifinals. We decided to follow local consensus and hop Simeon, which moved up six spots to No. 34, over Fenwick, which moved up three spots to No. 36, despite the head-to-head result because of the quality of its wins within a short period of time.

"Simeon is just the better team," said Mr. Basketball USA panelist Scott Phillips, who compiles the CSNChicago.com Preps Power Rankings each week. "Simeon just beat three top 6 teams in a 36-hour span. Simeon is deep and talented and myself, the Tribune and Sun-Times all had Simeon jumping Fenwick."

Big FAB 50 Games On Tap

On Monday night, FAB 50 No. 10 DeMatha Catholic (Hyattsville, Md.) takes on No. 13 St. John's (Washington, D.C.) for the WCAC Tournament title. The two teams split regular season games this season.

In Philadelphia, No. 14 Neumann-Goretti battles No. 27 and cross-town Roman Catholic for the Philly Catholic League championship at the famed Palestra. Neumann-Goretti has only lost two games to clubs from the same WCAC that DeMatha and St. John's compete in -- Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.) and Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.), the latter which was one of the three teams to fall out of the FAB 50 this week.

Out West, a plethora of teams ranked in the Cal-Hi Sports weekly state Top 20 will battle in the CIF Southern Section Open Division quarterfinals on Tuesday, which a potential semifinal date between FAB 50 No. 7 Bishop Montgomery (Torrance, Calif.) and No. 8 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) looming on Friday.

Updated FAB 50 National Team Rankings
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(Tenth poll of the 2015-16 regular season; Through games played on Sunday, February 21; Previous ranking in parentheses; *Indicates forfeit wins, forfeit losses not included; **Indicates forfeits and defaults not included; ***Indicates season complete)

Dropped Out: Previous No. 31 Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.), No. 45 Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.), No. 50 Norman North (Norman, Okla.).

Bubble Teams: Aliquippa (Aliquippa, Pa.) 23-0; Allderdice (Pittsburgh, Pa.) 23-1; Archbishop Malloy (Queens, N.Y.) 20-4; Bingham (South Jordan, Utah) 19-2; Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) 23-7; Brandeis (San Antonio, Texas) 30-1; Christian Brothers (Memphis, Tenn.) 27-1; DeSoto (DeSoto, Texas) 29-2; Dillard (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) 26-5; Dublin Jerome (Dublin, Ohio) 21-2; East English Village Prep (Detroit, Mich.) 16-3; Fayetteville (Fayetteville, Ark.) 21-2; Foothills Christian (El Cajon, Calif.) 21-4; Fort Bend Bush (Richmond, Texas) 25-8; Gwynn Park (Brandywine, Md.) 18-1; Gonzaga (Washington, D.C.) 22-7; Hammond (Columbia, S.C.) 22-2; Houston Math Science & Tech (Houston, Texas) 29-4; Kickapoo (Springfield, Mo.) 23-2; Lancaster (Lancaster, Texas) 29-2; Lee's Summit (Lee's Summit, Mo.) 23-0; Lone Peak (Highland, Utah) 20-4; Long Island Lutheran (Glen Head, N.Y.) 22-3; McComb (McComb, Miss.) 25-0; Merrillville (Merrillville, Ind.) 20-1; Modesto Christian (Modesto, Calif.) 26-1; Mustang (Mustang, Okla.) 16-6; National Christian Academy (Ft. Washington, Md.) 20-1; New Albany (New Albany, Ind.) 20-1; Norcross (Norcross, Ga.) 26-4***; Norland (Miami, Fla.) 25-5***; Norman North (Norman, Okla.) 19-3; Oldsmar Christian (Oldsmar, Fla.) 29-9*; Omaha South (Omaha, Neb.) 23-1; Overland (Aurora, Colo.) 20-3; Peabody (Alexandria, La.) 31-1; Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) 23-4; Roselle Catholic (Roselle, N.J.) 17-6; Sacred Heart (Waterbury, Conn.) 17-2; Shadow Mountain (Phoenix, Ariz.) 24-5; Shenendehowa (Clifton Park, N.Y.) 21-0; Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) 14-6; Tascosa (Amarillo, Texas) 29-0; Victory Rock Prep (Sarasota, Fla.) 25-6; Westerville South (Westerville, Ohio) 19-4; Westfield (Chantilly, Va.) 20-2; Westlake (Atlanta, Ga.) 24-4; West Oaks Academy (Orlando, Fla.) 25-4; Westtown School (West Chester, Pa.) 26-6; Wheeler (Marietta, Ga.) 22-6; Wilmington (Wilmington, Ohio) 21-1.

Note: The FAB 50 powered by www.ebooksnet.com is a continuation of the National Sports News Service ratings that began in 1952. These were the first national high school rankings and the late Art Johlfs of Minnesota compiled them. They were compiled for many years by the late Barry Sollenberger of Phoenix, who merged them into the FAB 50 16 years ago.

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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DePaul-bound Chicago Curie senior point guard Devin Gage has been a four year varsity contributor. But now is his biggest chance to lead his team.
Facing Chicago powerhouse Simeon at the 85th annual Pontiac Holiday Tournament semis was Curie's chance to show they're among the elite teams in the state of Illinois.
High school basketball fans flock to Pontiac Illinois for the nation's oldest high school tournament annually and this year, Simeon's leading scorer Zach Norvell (headed to Gonzaga) was one of the star attractions along with slightly under-publicized Gage.

After cutting open his hand (which delayed the game) and later missing critical free throws in the closing seconds, Gage tipped the ball out of bounds off a Simeon player with 3 seconds remaining in the game. Given a second chance to win the game (still down 1 point), Gage sunk a 3-pointer, just beating the buzzer (80-78).
Simeon's Zach Norvell finished with 24 points before fouling out with 90 seconds left in the 4th quarter and was later named to the All-tournament team.
Devin Gage finished with 23 points (21 in second half), 4 rebounds and 8 hours later his undefeated Curie team went on to win their second Pontiac title in school history (handing Peoria Manual its first loss of the season). Gage was named tournament MVP.

Check out this raw footage of this dramatic Pontiac semifinal game featuring 2 of the Chicago Public League's top teams that lasted over 2 hours!

Thanks to Jim Drengwitz and everyone at Pontiac High School and the Pontiac Holiday Tournament!

For more Pontiac Holiday Tournament basketball mixtapes and raw game footage watch and subscribe to Ballislife Midwest youtube channel and follow @scottballislife on Instagram and @BallislifeCHI on Twitter. Thanks for watching and subscribing!

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For more Zack Norvell and Midwest basketball mixtapes watch and subscribe to ballislifemidwest's youtube channel and follow @scottballislife on Instagram and @BallislifeCHI on Twitter. Thanks for watching and subscribing!

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For more Zack Norvell Jr. and Midwest basketball mixtapes watch and subscribe to ballislifemidwest's youtube channel and follow @scottballislife on Instagram and @BallislifeCHI on Twitter. Thanks for watching and subscribing!

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