La Mirada (Calif.) opens up The Classic at Damien with comeback win
‘The Classic at Damien’ tipped off on Thursday and La Mirada (Calif.) fought back against Dallas Parish Episcopal School (Texas) for a 76-72 win.
The Matadores trailed by 16 points at halftime, but 19 second-half points from elite sophomore shooting guard Gene Roebuck put La Mirada on top by the final buzzer. Roebuck finished with 31 points. Senior point guard Julien Gomez added 27 points of his own for the Matadores.
La Mirada will face Redondo Union (Calif.) at 4 p.m. Pacific on Friday.
According to the On3 Composite Rankings, the Matadores are the No. 12 team in the Golden State and are the No. 93 program nationally.
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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.”