By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
Basketball tips off officially in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday with a pair of exciting tournaments featuring some of the state's and country's top teams and players.
The second annual NorCal Tip-Off Classic at Newark Memorial High begins at 10:30 a.m. with Central Coast Section power Riordan playing Dublin and concludes with a monumental clash between St. Mary’s (Berkeley) and Sheldon (Sacramento) at 8 p.m.
St. Mary’s is led by UC-Santa Barbara-bound guard Chris Brew and is the defending Northern California Division IV champion. Sheldon features one of the nation’s top sophomores in Darius Nelson, brother of Golden State Warriors guard and former Duke standout DeMarcus Nelson. .
Other games include: Lincoln (San Francisco) against Woodside Priory (Portola Valley), noon; Fremont (Oakland) against Valley Christian (San Jose), 1:45 p.m.; El Cerrito versus Piner (Santa Rosa), 3:15 p.m.; Oakland against Hayward, 5 p.m. and Newark Memorial versus Sacramento, 6:30 p.m.
Approximately 25 Division I prospects will be playing, including nine who have already committed or signed.
The include: Brew, a 6-4 guard; Lucas Devenny (Piner, 6-8, Santa Barbara), Tim Harris (Valley Christian, 6-4, St. Mary’s College), Aalim Moore (St. Mary’s, 6-4, San Jose State), Ken Rancifer (El Cerrito, 6-5, San Diego), Chase Tapley (Sacramento, 6-2, San Diego State), Dominique Taplin (Oakland, 6-1, Santa Clara), T.J. Taylor (Oakland, 5-7, Santa Clara), Josiah Turner (Sacramento, 6-0, Arizona State).
Turner and Taylor, by the way, are only sophomores and have committed way early.
Other seniors of note are Davion Berry (Hayward), Alex Harris (El Cerrito), Marcus Jackson (Sheldon), Deend Parker (Lincoln), Ignas Pavilonis (Woodside Priory).
Top juniors include Travon Abraham (Sacramento), Ifeanyi Ezefor (Newark Memorial), Max Hopper (Valley Christian), Demetrius Lee (St. Mary’s), Dominique Lee (St. Mary’s), Khion Sankey (Newark Memorial).
Other top sophomores are William Davis (Sacramento), Ramon Eaton (Sheldon) and Robert Garrett (Sacramento).
Another new tournament kicks off at Berkeley High.
The Gametime East Bay Classic starts at 2 p.m. with four boys games and one girls games, which features defending national champion Sacred Heart Cathedral taking on St. Patrick-St. Vincent (Vallejo) at 6:30 p.m.
The boys games are Deer Valley (Antioch) against Amador Valley (Pleasanton), 2 p.m.; Sacred Heart Cathedral versus Salesian (Richmond), 3:30 p.m.; Berkeley against Pittsburg, 5 p.m.; and defending state Division I champion McClymonds (Oakland) versus San Leandro, 8 p.m.
The final game features two of the best forwards in the state, Jared Cunningham of San Leandro and McClymonds’ Damon Powell.
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.