BOYS' BASKETBALL

SAN JOAQUIN LEAGUE

Saddleback Valley Christian 70, Capistrano Valley Christian 50

There’s 18 City Section championship basketball banners hanging around the Crenshaw gym. Sixteen were won by legendary Coach Willie West at the highest level. Two were Division I titles won the last two seasons.

This season, Crenshaw wants to be considered one of the top eight teams selected for the Open Division, and the Cougars are close to achieving that result. They are 8-0 in the Coliseum League after an impressive 92-50 drubbing of rival Dorsey on Friday night.

Isaiah Johnson, the Cougars’ football quarterback, scored 21 points. His brother, Mossi, was a star point guard for the Cougars. This Johnson is wider but just as competitive. Dominique Winbush had 19 points and Shedrick Lockridge added 18 points.

WRESTLING

CITY DUAL MEET CHAMPIONSHIPS

BOYS'

Capistrano Valley High is proud of its former pitcher, Kyle Hendricks of the Chicago Cubs, and the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum has just produced a Hendricks bobblehead for Cougar fans.

Every purchase will honor Hendricks and help raise funds for the Capistrano Valley athletic department. The cost is $25, with $5 of every one sold going to the athletic department. There are 500 available.

Hendricks helped the Cubs win the World Series in 2016.

Shareef O’Neal, the son of Shaquille, had the game-winning basket for Crossroads on Thursday night in a 62-60 win over Beverly Hills.

It was part of a special night for O’Neal and many others. The game was played at CBS Studios in Studio City and O’Neal was there along with the gang, Kenny, Chuck and Ernie, from TNT’s NBA set.

Beverly Hills Coach Jarvis Turner joked, “Shaq’s influence was definitely in the building,” referring to the foul calls.

Lance Fauria, who was a standout tight end at Crespi and later became a high school football coach, died Thursday night, Crespi athletic director Brian Bilek said. He was 52.

Fauria had been named football coach at Taft last year but later dropped out. He had coached at a number of schools in recent years, including Bell-Jeff and Cathedral.

He was a first-team All-CIF player at Crespi in 1982. He was part of a family that produced three standout brothers at Crespi -- Lance, Quinn and Christian. Christian went on to play in the NFL. His nephew, Joseph, also starred at Crespi and played in the NFL.

I have no need to look at any All-American team to know that senior guard Brandon Williams of Crespi is a prep All-American basketball player. If he’s not on the team, the people doing it are clueless.

In his last nine games against quality opponents, Williams is averaging 34.4 points. He culminated that stretch on Wednesday night with a school-record 52-point performance in an overtime win over Alemany.

Committed to Arizona, the 6-foot-3 Williams has been a starter since his freshman year and twice played on state championship teams. But people seemed to have forgotten about him when he missed all last season while recovering from a knee injury.

Cal Baptist’s newly opened 5,050-seat Events Center in Riverside has been reserved to host the Southern Section boys’ basketball semifinals in the Open Division.

Last season, the semifinal doubleheader at Galen Center drew a sold-out crowd to watch Mater Dei take on Chino Hills and Bishop Montgomery face Sierra Canyon.

This season, it’s still unknown which four teams are likely to make it to the semifinals. The Open Division will be reduced from 16 to eight teams when playoff seedings are announced next month.

Ingrid Herskind, the boys’ cross-country coach at Flintridge Prep since 1997, is stepping down. She will continue to coach boys and girls swimming.

She has been one of the few female coaches of boys’ cross-country. Her teams have been consistently good for 21 years.

Assistant Scott Jung, the track coach, will take over the cross-country team.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

AMBASSADOR LEAGUE

Loma Linda Academy 58, Woodcrest Christian 46