For South Bay basketball junkies needing a fix because of the NBA lockout, the 60th annual Pacific Shores Tournament, played in two parts in separate venues in the Beach Cities, will provide a glimpse of future college stars and NBA hopefuls.
Redondo Union High School will host a 16-team tournament in which all but one team reached the post season in the 2010-11 campaign. Six of the teams advanced to either the CIF Southern Section or LA City divisional finals last season with three earning CIF titles.
Action begins Monday, Nov. 28 at 3 p.m. when defending Division 1AA champion Long Beach Poly takes on Pacific Hills. Perennial powers Compton and Westchester follow at 4:25 p.m., defending Division 3A champion Harvard-Westlake squares off against Santa Monica at 5:50 p.m., Fairfax and Hawthorne battle at 7:15 p.m. and Bishop Montgomery faces Mayfair to wrap up the first day of competition.
On Tuesday, Nov. 29, Torrance and Palisades play at 5:50 p.m., defending Division 1A champion Loyola takes on Dominguez, and Redondo plays host to Bakersfield at 8:40 p.m.
The championship game is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Prior to the Pacific Shores Tournament, Redondo will host its annual Alumni Game on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Redondo had an overall record of 15-13 last season reaching the second round of the Division 2AA championships and head coach Tm Maier said he will rely heavily on senior forward Brain Frew (6’3”), junior guard Derek Biale (6’1”) and sophomore guard Ian Fox (5’10”), who will need to overcome an early-season injury.
“We have a balanced team,” Maier said. “Size should help us on the boards.”
The Sea Hawks roster includes junior centers Omar Karame (6’10”) and Sebastian Lindner (6’7”) along with forwards David Passmore (6’4”), Chris Henderson (6’2”) and Tyler Holloway (6’2”).
The smaller tournament at Mira Costa consists of two pools of eight teams. Competing in Pool A with Mira Costa will be Brentwood, Carson and Pacifica Christian.
Pool B teams are Banning, Culver City, Lawndale and Palos Verdes. Each team in the tournament reached the playoffs last season.
Mira Costa begins action against Carson on Monday, Nov. 28. The Mustangs will take on Pacifica Christian on Wednesday and Brentwood on Thursday. All three Mira Costa games are slated to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
Bracket games will be held on Saturday, Dec. 3 with the 7th-place game at 3 p.m., the 5th-place game at 4:30 p.m., the 3rd-place game at 6 p.m. and the Championship game at 7:30 p.m.
The Mustangs look to rebound from a 10-18 season and head coach Jeff Amaral is excited about the depth he has on this year’s squad.
“We will rely heavily on players coming off the bench,” Amaral said. “We have skilled players with speed and quickness that are good ball handlers and shooters.”
Amaral expects a trio of guards to be a key to his team’s success. Junior Cole Feaster (6’0”) and senior Cooper Pugnale (6’0”) are returning starters and junior Kevin Kim (5’11”) experienced a lot of playing time last season.
“Feaster is our best player and makes things go,” Amaral said. “Pugnale is the strong, scrappy senior leader who is the glue for our team and is a tremendous rebounder out of the guard position as is Kim, who appears to be a real threat to breakout this season.”
The Mustangs will look to senior big men Keith Waddell (6’6”) and Karl Acres (6’5”) to provide support under the boards.
“W are relatively young and don’t have a tremendous amount of experience inside,” Amaral explained. “Waddell is coming back after two years off while focusing on volleyball and Acres played a wing position in the past. Both will be important players for us this season.”
Bench strength will be provided by returning varsity players sophomore guard Chase Crandall (6’3”) and senior guard Max Watson (6’1”) along with junior guard Oliver Mausner (6’3”) and sophomore forward Justin Strings (6’3”) who have moved up from playing on the junior varsity and frosh-soph teams last season.
“Mausner gives us a deep threat and Strings is long and lanky, giving us offensive rebounding and length on defense,” Amaral added.
In addition to the Pacific Shores Tournament, Mira Costa will be hosting another early-season event expected to draw a large crowd. On Friday, Dec. 9, the Mustangs will take on perennial powerhouse Campbell Hall. The Vikings feature 6-foot-7, 200-pound forward Cole Huff who has committed to Nevada and freshman Aaron Holiday, brother of former UCLA and current Philadelphia 76er guard Jrue Holiday who was named the 2008 Gatorade Player of the Year his senior season at Campbell Hall.
