CONTACT US

Contact Form

    News Details

    Fryer: Great boys basketball games a nightly occurrence in Crestview League
    • January 17, 2025

    All five of the Crestview League’s teams this season are in the Orange County boys basketball Top 15.

    Every team has at least one sure-thing All-County player. Four of the league’s coaches have been the O.C. coach of the year.

    The average margin of victory in the league has been five points. Four games have been decided by one point, one has gone into overtime and one went to double overtime.

    The Crestview League is behind only the Trinity League on the list of best collection of teams in Orange County boys basketball.

    Canyon is in first place with a 2-0 league record. Then comes Crean Lutheran at 2-1, La Habra at 2-2 and Foothill at 1-1. Cypress is 0-3, with an asterisk.

    A look at the five Crestview League teams:

    Canyon (17-4 overall, 2-0 in league): Canyon is No. 5 in the county rankings and is second to No. 4 Los Alamitos among O.C. public school teams. Canyon beat Cypress 63-61 in overtime and has the only double-digit win in the league this season with its 81-64 win over La Habra. Senior forward Brandon Benjamin is among the leaders for county player of the year honors. (Santa Margarita guard Kaiden Bailey and Mater Dei guard Luke Barnett are also in the current mix. Senior guards Staf Yilmazturk and Noah Kim have been top contributors, too.

    Canyon guard Staf Yilmazturk, right, reaches the rebound before La Habra guard Acen Jimenez in a Crestview League boys basketball game in Anaheim on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
    Canyon guard Staf Yilmazturk, right, reaches the rebound before La Habra guard Acen Jimenez in a Crestview League boys basketball game in Anaheim on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

    Crean Lutheran (9-9, 2-1): The Saints, No. 10 in the O.C. Top 25, lost to La Habra 56-55 on a last-second shot, beat Foothill 61-60 and beat Cypress 69-68 in double overtime. Jacob Majok, a 6-7 junior, has vastly improved over last season and is a factor at both ends of the court. Sophomore guards Caden Jones and Hunter Caplan are key players.

    Cypress (14-9, 0-3): The hard-luck Centurions, No. 15 in the county rankings, lost to Canyon 63-61 in overtime, to Crean Lutheran 69-68 in double overtime and to La Habra 74-65. High-energy junior point guard Ryan Gov is one of more entertaining players around. Senior guard King Birdsong is an outstanding shooter and defender.

    Foothill (14-7, 1-1): The Knights, No. 14 in the O.C. rankings, lost to Crean Lutheran 61-60 and on Tuesday, with two starters out, beat La Habra 61-55. Danny Kennard, a 6-11 senior, is a much smoother player this season and now uses his weak (left) hand as well his strong hand inside, making him much more difficult to guard. Junior guard Braeden Davidson and senior Lorenzo Turner are fine shooters, and this team gets better as soon as senior point guard Kai Nixon shakes off the flu.

    La Habra (18-6, 2-2): The Highlanders, who are No. 7 in the county rankings, beat Crean Lutheran 56-55 on junior guard Acen Jimenez’s buzzer-beating jump shot, beat Cypress 74-65 and then lost its last two league games to Canyon 81-64 and to Foothill 61-55. La Habra has shooters galore, including seniors Jaedon Anderson and Sebastian Esparza, and has plenty of depth. The Highlanders’ zone defense can perplex their opponents.

    In Friday’s league games Canyon plays at Crean Lutheran and Foothill plays at Cypress; La Habra’s next league game is at Cypress on Tuesday.

    From the looks of it, all could be outstanding games.

    NOTES

    In two huge Trinity League boys basketball games next week, JSerra is at St. John Bosco on Monday, and Santa Margarita is home against St. John Bosco on Friday, Jan. 24. …

    JSerra’s boys basketball win over Mater Dei on Wednesday was the Lions’ third straight victory over the Monarchs in the sport. JSerra last season beat Mater Dei in a league game at JSerra and beat the Monarchs in a CIF-SS playoff game at Mater Dei. Santa Margarita is the only other Orange County team with three wins over Mater Dei during Gary McKnight’s 42 seasons as coach, but those did not occur consecutively. …

    The Celebration of Life for longtime county boys basketball coach Jerry DeBusk this past Saturday at Santa Margarita was like a veteran coaches convention, with so many men who coached with and against DeBusk at Costa Mesa, Newport Harbor and Santa Margarita. Ex-Lakers player and current radio broadcaster Mychal Thompson spoke at the event in the Santa Margarita gym about how important it was to have a coach with DeBusk’s knowledge and integrity mentor Thompson’s sons, including NBA great Klay Thompson. …

    CIF Southern Section competitive cheer championships are Jan. 24 and 25 at ML King High in Riverside. There are 12 divisions including four coed divisions. …

    Veterans Stadium in Long Beach, the football home of Los Alamitos and others, is about to undergo a full makeover. Among the many updated features of the project is that seating, now on only the west side of the stadium, will be on both sides. It will take at least two years for completion. …

    Jordon Davison and Nasir Wyatt of Mater Dei, Julius Gillick and Matt Lopez of Edison, Vanden Dugger of Dana Hills and Max Mapstone of Portola were named CIF Southern Section football players of the year in their divisions for the 2024 season. Raul Lara of Mater Dei, Jeff Grady of Edison and Peter Abe of Portola were named CIF-SS football coaches of the year. …

    Football coaching news: Former Kennedy and Loara coach Mitch Olson is the new coach at Fountain Valley; David Prieto resigned as coach at Buena Park after his four seasons there; Brett Brown resigned at Huntington Beach where he was the coach for nine seasons; and Connor McBride was hired at Woodbridge. …

    Incredible but true – baseball and softball seasons are a month away. Those sports can play their first games on Feb. 17. Boys tennis can also start Feb. 17; lacrosse can have its first games Feb. 10 and boys volleyball can play its first contests Feb. 15.

     Orange County Register 

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    News