San Diego Prep Basketball Insider: Christian Patriots pull off back-to-back upsets
Every week during the 2019-20 basketball season, Scorebook Live California reporter Bodie De Silva will highlight the top performers and the most intriguing storylines in San Diego Section high school basketball.
NOTABLE RESULTS
The Christian Patriots threw a wrench in the playoff
brackets on Friday night when they hosted top-ranked Cathedral Catholic on
senior night. The Patriots controlled the game throughout and were able to shut
down a Cathedral team that features several talented scorers. Christian backed
up their win 20 hours later when they took down third-ranked Francis Parker at
Mission Bay’s Battle at the Bay showcase. Parker came out of the gates on fire,
hitting eight first quarter three-pointers. Christian trailed by 20 points one
minute into the third quarter before they mounted their comeback, eventually
winning, 63-62.
The past week of games in San Diego created lots of
craziness and made this week’s top ten rankings the most difficult of the
season. Top-ranked Cathedral Catholic lost to Christian after previously
beating them in league play. Second-ranked St. Augustine lost to Cathedral
early in the week and couldn’t make the move up to number one. Francis Parker,
who entered the week at number three but suffered their first loss since the
new year when they allowed Christian to come back. Christian took down number
one and number three in less than 24 hours, but entering the week at number
eight, it didn’t make sense for the Patriots to jump all the way up. Torrey
Pines entered the week at number four and went 3-0, but previous losses against
Cathedral Catholic and St. Augustine held the Falcons at the three spot this
week.
TOP PERFORMERS
Torrey Pines senior forward Brandon Angel had 26 points and
17 rebounds in Saturday’s win over Foothills Christian. The Stanford-signee
surpassed the 1,000-career point mark in Friday’s win over Canyon Crest.
San Ysidro freshman guard Jurian Dixon has been one of San
Diego’s best scorers in his freshman season but has stepped up his game during
the Cougar’s current nine-game winning streak. He’s averaging over 33 points
per game during that stretch.
Hilltop senior forward Lei Zumstein has 72 blocks on the season
and has blocked at least one shot in 25 of 26 games. He blocked seven shots
against Southwest San Diego and six against Chula Vista.
RECRUITING NEWS
2020 Carlsbad G Jailen Nelson picked up an offer from Cal
State Monterey Bay.
2020 St. Augustine G Declan Bretz signed with Emerson
College.
2020 Bishop’s G Zach White signed with Denison University.
2020 Canyon Crest G Frank Gelfman signed with Stevens Institute
of Technology.
TOP COLLEGE PERFORMANCE
2018 La Jolla Country Day grad Alex Cho is having an
excellent sophomore season for MIT. The guard is averaging 16 points per game
and has scored 30 points or more twice.
