Redondo Union (Calif.) wins first game of The Classic at Damien

The 2024 edition of ‘The Classic at Damien’ in California tipped off on Thursday and Redondo Union came away with a 93-78 victory over Sacramento Destiny Christian to open the event in the Platinum Division.

The Sea Hawks were buoyed by 23 points from junior shooting guard SJ Madison and 21 from senior Hudson Mayes. The win advances them into the quarterfinals on Friday, where they’ll play the winner of La Mirada (Calif.) and Parish Episcopal (Texas).

With the win, Redondo Union is now 11-1 on the season. It already has multiple ranked wins over in-state competition and is coming off a 4-1 showing and third-place finish at the 2024 Tarkanian Classic.

According to the On3 Composite Rankings, the Sea Hawks are the No. 30 team in the Golden State and are nearing top-300 status nationally.

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.”