Three new teams crack the latest edition of the FAB 50 National Team Rankings powered by Ballislife.com<\/i>, but the big news is previous No. 13 Sierra Canyon (Chatsworth, Calif.) going down in CIF Southern Section open pool play. Read below to see where Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood, Calif.) landed as it gets ready to take on No. 5 Centennial (Corona, Calif.) in the CIFSS open championship. Sierra Canyon is not done yet, as only one team that fell from the rankings is done for the season. In the next couple of weeks, more ranked teams will wrap up, although the new State Champions Invitational will extend the season for four state champions.<\/b>
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By Ronnie Flores<\/strong><\/em><\/b><\/p>\n The storylines behind this week's FAB 50 National Team Rankings<\/strong> powered by Ballislife.com<\/i> is not whom lost, but whom can bounce back after a loss and avoid getting upset at the wrong time. Only one ranked team saw its season come to an end. That was previous No. 45 Durango (Las Vegas) falling to No. 35 Liberty (Henderson, Nev.), 73-68, in the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association<\/em> (NIAA) Class 5A Southern Semifinals. Durango was ranked ahead of Georgia High School Association<\/em> (GHSA) Class AAAAAAA No. 1 Pebblebrook (Mableton, Ga.) in the rankings after handing the Falcons one of their two losses at the Tarkanian Classic<\/em> in December. The Falcons have now done enough to be ranked ahead of Durango, which remains on the bubble because of its overall resume.<\/p>\n As for Liberty, the Patriots fell to No. 11 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.) in the Class 5A Southern final, 77-61. It was their third loss of the season to the Gaels, who upped their winning streak to 42 games with the win. After the NIAA did not have a 2020-21 season, Bishop Gorman will look to win its tenth consecutive state crown this weekend at the Lawlor Events Center<\/em> in Reno. Should Bishop Gorman defeat Spanish Springs (Sparks, Nev.) in Friday's state semifinals and win the state title the following evening, it would break the reported national state title winning streak record of nine held by now defunct and four-time FAB 50 champion<\/a> St. Anthony (Jersey City, N.J.) between 1983-1991.<\/p>\n By defeating Durango, Liberty assured itself a spot in the Class 5A semifinals, where it will take on Douglas (Minden, Nev.). What could make getting a fourth crack at Bishop Gorman a bit more difficult is the absence of St. Mary's-bound man Joshua Jefferson<\/strong>. After he fouled out in the closing seconds of the Southern championship, Gorman's Darrion Williams<\/strong> was holding the ball in front of the Liberty bench to run out of the clock when Jefferson reached over from the bench to grab the ball. Because he was not on the court, he was injected and that means he will not be able to play in the state semifinals.<\/p>\n
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