Heritage Christian (Calif.) beats Corona Centennial (Calif.) at The Classic at Damien

Behind a double-double effort from senior power forward Tae Simmons, Heritage Christian (Calif.) beat Corona Centennial (Calif.) 77-65 on the opening day of ‘The Classic at Damien.’

Simmons, a San Diego State signee, finished with 31 points and 13 rebounds while St. Mary’s signee Dillan Shaw added 29 points of his own, according to Sports Illustrated.

Heritage Christian advances to play the winner of St. John Bosco (Calif.) and Sunnyslope (Ariz.).

According to the On3 Composite Rankings, the Warriors are the No. 25 team in the Golden State and are in the top 300 nationally. They improved to a still-perfect 13-0 in 2024 with the win over Centennial.

The 2024 edition of The Classic features 12 of the top California programs, in addition to teams from Arizona, Texas and Utah. St. John Bosco, Roosevelt, La Mirada, Damien and Santa Margarita Catholic are all in the Platinum Division bracket and are top-15 teams in California, per the On3 Composite.

The On3 Composite High School Basketball Team Ranking is a proprietary algorithm that compiles rankings listed in the public domain by respected High School media and data companies. It includes Massey, Max Preps, ESPN and SI, creating the industry’s most comprehensive and geographically balanced High School Team Ranking.

More about The Classic at Damien

A brief history on The Classic at Damien from the tournament website:

“In December of 1981, the inaugural ‘Damien Cage Classic’ first took place.   At the time Ray Plutko, then Commissioner of the CIF was a part of the Damien Booster Club, as three of his sons played basketball and are alumni here at Damien.  He had the idea to start a basketball tournament and Ray served as the original tournament director.  At the time Coach Mike LeDuc was in his 3rd year as Head Basketball Coach here at Damien.”

“In January of 2016, the idea floated around to resurrect the original tournament.  The idea was to create an opportunity for quality teams to compete against quality opponents in a first class setting that was affordable to the schools without the need to travel overnight.  A group of basketball enthusiasts met and a committee was formed and met regularly to organize and plan this event.  In trying to keep a little of the history and also recognizing that it has been 35 years since its beginning, the tournament was renamed ‘The Classic at Damien” with a 48 team, 3 division format.”