Mater Dei tops the list once again as regular season nears end for many of the nation's top teams.
Top-ranked Mater Dei huddles at the Hoophall Classic last week. The Monarchs will be involved in the national game of the week Saturday at the Nike Extravaganza against No. 18 Whitney Young.
Photo by Mike Braca
MaxPreps Xcellent 25 National Basketball Rankings presented by the Army National Guard
1. (No. 1 last week) Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.), 20-0The Monarchs will host the Nike Extravaganza this weekend, facing 15-3 Village Christian (Sun Valley) on Friday and No. 18 Whitney Young in Saturday's featured pairing.
2. (2) Rainier Beach (Seattle), 17-0Beach has topped the 100-point mark eight times this season and has won 11 of 12 outings in the competitive Metro League by 20 points or more.
3. (3) Curie (Chicago), 18-1Following last Monday's stunner over then-No. 1 Montverde Academy, the Condors were nearly upset themselves in a 60-58 win over league foe Hyde Park (Chicago) on Friday. National Player of the Year frontrunner
Cliff Alexander posted 23 points and 12 rebounds in that contest.
4. (4) Montverde Academy (Fla.), 19-1The Eagles bounced back from Monday's loss to No. 3 Curie with a 92-78 win over Evans (Orlando) on Saturday. One-loss Orlando Christian Prep, Columbia (Decatur, Ga.), Greensboro Day (N.C.), Math, Civics and Sciences (Philadelphia) and Shiloh (Snellville, Ga.) will be among the participants in this weekend's Montverde Academy Invitational.
5. (5) White Station (Memphis, Tenn.), 20-1Head coach Jesus Patino successfully guided his team through a four-game week that included big wins over Sunrise Christian Academy (Bel Aire, Kan.) and Hamilton (Memphis). The latter came at the Penny Hardaway National Hoopfest and was broadcast nationally by ESPNU.{PAGEBREAK}
Aaron Thompson (No. 2, black jersey) and Joshua Reaves (far right) of Paul VI battle for a loose ball at the Hoophall Classic. The Panthers will need more hustle like this to get through a rugged week of WCAC play.
Photo by Mike Braca
and the Titans will get a tough test Monday night in the final of the Indianapolis City Tournament against Indianapolis Cathedral. Arsenal mowed through the first three rounds of the event easily, averaging 95 points per game and allowing just 54.6.
7. (6) Northside Christian Academy (Charlotte, N.C.), 20-1NCA got a push Friday night against First Assembly Academy (Concord) but prevailed with a 65-57 victory. The Knights have won 32 of their last 33 games.
8. (8) Paul VI (Fairfax, Va.), 16-3Key stretch ahead for the Panthers with back-to-back games Thursday and Friday against Gonzaga and No. 20 St. John's.
9. (9) Providence (Jacksonville, Fla.), 22-3The Stallions extended their win streak to 14 games last week with wins over The Villages Charter (The Villages), Trinity Christian (Jacksonville) and Oldsmar Christian (Oldsmar).
10. (10) La Lumiere (LaPorte, Ind.), 17-2The Lakers swept Cleveland Central Catholic and Warrensville Heights of Ohio over the weekend at the Dunk 4 Diabetes Shootout.{PAGEBREAK}
Junior point guard Terrence Phillips helped Oak Hill Academy bounce back from a loss at the Spalding Hoophall Classic with a pair of wins at the Penny Hardaway National Hoopfest.
File photo by Mike Braca
With 28 regular season games already in the books, Oak Hill still has 14 left to go including key matchups with Arlington Country Day (Jacksonville, Fla.), Benedictine (Richmond, Va.) and Quality Education Academy (Winston-Salem, N.C.).
12. (12) Our Savior New American (Centereach, N.Y.), 15-2There will be a huge test for OSNA on Saturday as it faces No. 21 Cape Henry Collegiate at the Battle by the Bay in Atlantic City, N.J. The matchup will likely be Our Savior's final regular season opportunity to bolster its resume against a nationally ranked opponent.
13. (13) Greater Atlanta Christian (Norcross, Ga.), 22-0Cam Boyd knocked down six 3-pointers en route to a team-high 20 points as the Spartans held off North Carolina 1A power Winston-Salem Prep for a 72-64 win Saturday at the Hilton Invitational. Virginia-bound senior
Isaiah Wilkins – the stepson of NBA legend Dominique Wilkins – added 19 points and 12 rebounds for GAC in the victory.
14. (15) Corona del Sol (Tempe, Ariz.), 20-1Since a loss to Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) on Jan. 4, the Aztecs have won seven in a row by an average margin of 23 points per game.
15. (16) Apple Valley (Minn.), 17-1Future Duke Blue Devil
Tyus Jones went for 40 points in Apple Valley's latest outing, a 93-67 win over Prior Lake on Friday night.{PAGEBREAK}
16. (17) Loyola (Los Angeles), 18-1The Cubs took care of business Saturday at the Fairfax State Preview in Los Angeles, handling a battle-tested El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) squad 67-48.
17. (18) Archbishop Carroll (Radnor, Pa.), 14-2Fans in Philadelphia have been waiting for the Patriots to square off with Neumann-Goretti all season. The teams were scheduled to meet earlier this month but weather pushed the showdown to Wednesday at Carroll.
18. (19) Whitney Young (Chicago), 14-4Playing its 12th game against a team from outside the state of Illinois this season, Whitney Young edged Southwind (Memphis, Tenn.) Saturday at the Penny Hardaway National Hoopfest. The Dolphins take another trip out-of-state this weekend to face No. 1 Mater Dei.
19. (20) Huntington St. Joseph Prep (W.Va.), 17-4The
Irish (we mistakenly referred to HSJP as the Express last week, which was the moniker the program went by until this season), were dominant in a pair of outings at the Dunk 4 Diabetes Shootout in Ohio.
20. (21) St. John's (Washington, D.C.), 15-1The Washington Catholic Athletic Conference race is shaping up to be a dogfight. The Cadets handed DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) and Bishop O'Connell (Arlington, Va.) losses last week. St. John's will be hungry for revenge Thursday against No. 8 Paul VI after suffering a 20-point loss to the Panthers in December.{PAGEBREAK}
Bishop Gorman celebrates a big win Saturday over Findlay Prep. The Gaels are unbeaten this month.
Photo by Jann Hendry
The Dolphins survived a triple-overtime thriller with a talented Clinton Christian (Upper Marlboro, Md.) squad to remain unbeaten. A win over No. 12 Our Savior New American this weekend could really send Cape Henry's stock soaring.
22. (NR) Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas), 17-4Gorman's losses have come against No. 2 Rainier Beach, No. 3 Curie, No. 11 Oak Hill Academy and Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) in the semifinals of the Tarkanian Classic. A couple of those setbacks have come in lopsided fashion, but Saturday's 76-72 win over No. 24 Findlay Prep continued a string of impressive wins during an unbeaten January.
23. (14) Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.), 21-4The Pilots are tough to peg this year but the talent on the roster and a 20-point win over No. 14 Corona del Sol makes them difficult to exclude from the Xcellent 25.
24. (23) Blue Valley Northwest (Overland Park, Kan.), 9-1The Huskies captured the Valley Center Invitational title Saturday with a 75-56 win over Southeast (Wichita). Northwest blasted Seaman (Topeka) 73-47 and Olathe Northwest 68-36 to reach the final.
25. (25) Garfield (Seattle), 16-0The high school home of Seattle hoop stars like Brandon Roy, Tony Wroten Jr. and Joyce Walker (female Harlem Globetrotter) is 41-2 over the past two seasons.
Dropped out: No. 22
DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.)
