Brayden Burries helps Eastvale Roosevelt reach Damien semifinals

You can sense pure joy when 6-foot-5 junior Brayden Burries is on the court. He plays basketball effortlessly, seemingly doing whatever his team needs to succeed, whether passing, scoring or rebounding. He and Eastvale Roosevelt teammate Issac Williamson were forced to miss their entire sophomore seasons by the Southern Section following their transfer from Riverside Poly.

“They were the best scout team players,” Roosevelt coach Stephen Singleton said. “The have a chip on their shoulders. A season was taken away.”

Burries and Williamson have helped lead Roosevelt to a 14-1 record and into the Platinum Division semifinals at the Classic at Damien with a 71-66 win Thursday over Meridian (Idaho) Owyhee. Roosevelt led by as many as 21 points and 18 after three quarters before holding off a late surge by the Storm. Williamson scored 19 points and Burries had 15 points. They’re talented guards, as are Darnez Slater, who contributed 16 points, and Myles Walker, who had 15 points. Few teams in Southern California have a better group of guards.

And few juniors are better than Burries. His versatility, unselfishness and intelligence comes through repeatedly.

Talking about last season, he said, “It was really tough not being able to play. I think it was God telling me not to take basketball for granted because you never know when your last game is. Now that I am playing, I do every game like it is my last.”

Liam Campbell, headed to USC, led Owyhee with 21 points, 20 coming in the second half.

Roosevelt will play in Friday’s 8:30 p.m. semifinals against host Damien in a challenging matchup since the Spartans have 7-footer Nate Garcia. Damien defeated previously unbeaten Concord De La Salle 51-42 to improve to 13-1. Xavier Clinton made seven threes and finished with 26 points for Damien. Garcia added 10 points.

Richmond Salesian 59, Corona Centennial 57: Zander Jimenez connected on a three with under 50 seconds left to help Salesian (12-0) rally from a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat the Huskies in a quarterfinal game of the Platinum division at Damien. Isaiah Rodgers led Centennial (10-7) with 19 points. Salesian will play either St. John Bosco or American Fork in a 7 p.m. semifinal on Friday.

Branson 82, La Mirada 80: The Matadors lost in overtime. Freshman Gene Roebuck scored 44 points for La Mirada.

Etiwanda 49, Redwood 39: Carrington Pierce and Christian Harris each scored 12 points and Amare Campbell added 10 for Etiwanda (12-1).

Campbell Hall 76, Phoenix (Ariz.) Sunnyslope 62: Aaron Powell contributed 33 points for the Vikings.

Windward 69, Chandler (Ariz.) Basha 55: JJ Harris finished with 18 points, Louis Bond had 16 and Gavin Hightower added nine assists for the Wildcats.

DeSoto (Texas) Faith Family 60, JSerra 42: The Lions dropped their first game of the season in San Diego. Colorado commit Doryan Onwuchekwa had 22 points. Another Colorado commit, Sebastian Rancik of JSerra, had 18 points.

Edison 69, Mayfair 43: Kaz Hampton finished with 32 points in Palm Desert.

Schurr 73, Sun Valley Poly 69: The Parrots lost in overtime despite 38 points from JD Wyatt.

Crescenta Valley 76, Palmdale 57: Derek Najarian had 21 points for Crescenta Valley (13-4).

Bernstein 77, Granada Hills Kennedy 54: Greg Griffin scored 24 points and Troy Agtang had 22 points for 12-3 Bernstein.

Crean Lutheran 72, Washington Curtis 47: Kaiden Bailey scored 30 points for Crean Lutheran.

Calabasas 77, Bishop Montgomery 70: Tidiane Sy finished with a career-high 28 points for Calabasas.

Grant 71, Long Beach Jordan 65: Will Overton and Cary Salay each scored 20 points for Grant.

Granada Hills 68, Muir 65: Dylan Vo had 26 points and 16 rebounds and Marc Cherfan finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds for Granada Hills.

Crespi 68, Mission Bay 38: The Celts improved to 16-1. Joe Sterling led the way with 18 points.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 80, Crossroads 51: Mercy Miller finished with 38 points for the unbeaten Knights.

Long Beach Poly 58, St. Francis 54: The Jackrabbits won in overtime. Mazi Mosley scored 30 points for St. Francis.

West Ranch 56, Jesuit 49: Darrell Morris led West Ranch with 12 points and five assists.

Los Alamitos 95, Damonte Ranch (Nev.) 84: Samori Guyness scored 26 points, Liam Gray 24 and Trent Minter 17 for Los Alamitos.

Mira Costa 70, Lee (Al.) 58: Jacob De Armas and Eneasi Piuleini each scored 19 points for Mira Costa.

Mater Dei 92, Beaumont 46: Brannon Martinsen scored 21 points and Blake Davidson had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Monarchs. Luke Barnett made five threes and had 17 points and Brandon Benjamin added 16 points and 13 rebounds.