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The team favorites in the Platinum Division of the 14th annual Tarkanian Classic advanced to the semifinal round with Saturday victories, as upset-minded clubs came close but weren’t able to pull out a victory cigar. FAB 50 ranked No. 26 Timpview (Provo, Utah) and No. 29 Santa Margarita (Rancho, S.M., Calif.) will meet in a Monday semifinal contest. The other semifinal will pit Redondo Union (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.).
In a well-balanced and talent-laden field, the four teams that figured to advance to the championship semifinals of the Platinum Division of the Tarkanian Classic did just that on Saturday evening, setting up two semifinal contests between four clubs that have all been FAB 50 ranked at some point this season.
Santa Margarita (Rancho S.M., Calif.), currently ranked No. 29 in the FAB 50 and with an impressive set of wins so far, figured to be one of the favorites to capture the Tark Classic Platinum Division title on Tuesday afternoon at Bishop Gorman High School. The other unit who figured to have an excellent shot was No. 26 Timpview (Provo, Utah). Both teams have advanced to the semifinals and will meet each other in a monster matchup for the opportunity to advance to Tuesday’s 4:30 local time title game, but how they advanced in completely different fashion was the main storyline of the first two days of the high school division.
6’7 top-50 #BYU #GoCougs bound ’26 Dean Rueckert brought out full arsenal at @TarkClassic, dropping 28pts,9 reb,7asst in Timpview’s 67-56 W over Corona Centennial (CA) to advance to final 4 in @Crocs Platinum Bracket.Smooth swingman with feathery jumper who can create off bounce pic.twitter.com/bosu6N1a0P
— Rodger Bohn (@rodgerbohn) December 21, 2025
Timpview, which entered the tourney 8-0, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 85-76 victory over Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.). In Saturday’s quarterfinal, the Thunderbirds dispatched a game Centennial (Corona, Calif.) club, 67-56. The unbeaten club from Utah will be playing a Santa Margarita club that enters the semifinals 13-1, with its only loss coming against FAB 50 No. 19 Bishop McNamara (Forestville, Md.).
Timpview is led by BYU-bound forward Dean Rueckert and he’s impressed, to say the least, through two games. Against Oak Ridge, Rueckert nailed six 3-pointers and finished with 24 points. He was complimented nicely by senior guard Jackson Ford, who nailed five 3-pointers and finished with 25 points.
Centennial had upset ideas in its head, but Rueckert put that idea to rest quickly, as he nailed back-to-back 3-pointers with just over seven minutes in the first have to give the Thunderbirds a 23-13 lead. Thereafter, fellow BYU recruit Will Openshaw scored on back-to-back field goals to give Timpview a 27-13 lead. The Utah club led 34-21 at halftime and grew its lead to 20 points (52-32). Centennial then went on a 13-0 run to make it interesting before Ford stopped the bleeding with a clutch 3-pointer.
Rueckert led all scorers with 28 points and added nine rebounds, seven assists and two steals. Openshaw added 11 points and eight rebounds.
Centennial’s Isaiah “Slim” Rogers, bound for Stanford, led his team in a losing effort with 22 points.
Santa Margarita’s Razor Thin Margins
For Santa Margarita, the road to the semifinals was a bit more dicey. The Eagles needed offensive rebound follow up shots to help squeeze out two close victories. Santa Margarita opened with a game Basha (Chandler, Ariz.) club that gave the boys from South Orange County all they could handle. The game came down to the closing possessions and the Eagles took the lead for good on a follow up layup by Oregon St.-bound forward Drew Anderson after a missed field goal by Georgia Tech-bound point guard Kaiden Bailey. Basha had a chance to potentially win the game on its final possession, but a corner 3-pointer was off the mark.
Bailey finished with 21 points, while Anderson added 15 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks.
USF-bound point guard Mason Magee led Basha with 15 points, six assists and three steals and through two games looks like a sure-fire bet for the Platinum Division all-tourney team.
Santa Margarita’s 59-58 victory was a nut-cutter, so it figured to wake the Eagles up for its quarterfinal contest with host Bishop Gorman, which downed Hillgrove (Powder Springs, Ga.) in its first round game, 68-45. The host Gaels usually play well against national level teams on their home court and they gave Santa Margarita an even tougher time than Bahsa did, taking the game in double overtime before falling, 86-79.
Bishop Gorman had a 42-33 halftime lead was up by six points (50-44) before Santa Margarita started to play like a FAB 50 ranked unit. Bishop Gorman might have won in regulation had it made its free throws. For the contest the Gaels were 6-of-18.
Santa Margarita took its first lead of the game with 1:04 remaining when Washington St-bound Jake Kyman scored to make it 63-62. Bishop Gorman’s Kameron Cooper (17 points) then gave his team a 65-63 lead with 36 seconds remaining on a corner 3-pointer, but Santa Margarita’s Markee White Jr. tied the game on an offensive rebound put back with 19 seconds remaining and Gorman never got a clean look in its last possession.
Both teams scored six points in the first overtime, but it was all Eagles in the second extra stanza as it scored the first nine points to pull out the eventual 86-79 win and set up its Monday’s FAB 50 date with Timpview.
Anderson finished with 29 and 19 rebounds, while Kyman made four 3-pointers to finish with 19 points, while Bailey had 18.
Tyler Johnson led Bishop Gorman with 20 points.
Timpview’s victory over Centennial prevented the 2025 Tarkanian Classic semifinals from being an all CIF Southern Section affair, as three of the CIF’s teams from its largest section advanced.
Redondo Union, Notre Dame Advance
Redondo Union (9-2) led 29-23 at halftime and made Orem less conformable in its offense than what it saw in its 79-59 first round victory over Carter (Dallas, Texas). Redondo Union led 55-44, but Orem kept chipping away and got it to 55-52 before junior transfer forward Kaiden Wilson of Redondo Union hit a clutch 3-pointer with 5:20 remaining to make it 58-52 in favor of his team.
The Tigers trailed 62-58, then Sea Hawks senior guard Chase Holley scored on a driving lay-up. With 38 seconds to go, Redondo Union junior forward Chris Sanders made it 68-61 on a mid-range jumper and after a turnover, Orem’s head coach Jace Tavita was assessed a technical foul and that basically wrapped up the game.
Redondo Union now advances to the semifinals for the second consecutive season, as Sanders finished with 19 points and Wilson, a fast-rising transfer from Washington (state) who is originally from the Los Angeles area, added 18 points. Holley finished with 16 points. Redondo Union lost in last year’s semifinals to eventual champion Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.).
Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks, Calif.) lost to Roosevelt in last year’s title game and is now in the semifinals for the second consecutive season after dispatching Coronado (Henderson, Nev.), 68-39, in its quarterfinal contest.
Notre Dame point guard NaVorro Bowman Jr. is playing as well as any guard in this event, prep school or high school division, and put together another superlative performance against a battle-tested opponent. Notre Dame (8-2) took a 18-8 lead on a steal and break away dunk by Bowman, who controlled the game with his pace and competitiveness. Notre Dame led 32-13 at halftime and rolled to an easy victory. Bowman finished with 27 points and seven steals to follow up on his 22-point performance in a 74-69 first round victory over Riviera Prep (Miami, Fla.).
The battle between Riviera Prep and Notre Dame figured to be one of the Platinum Division’s best opening round games and it certainly lived up to its billing with a top 2027 point guard matchup between Bowman and Riviera Prep’s Myles Fuentes. The other first round game that figured to be ultra-competitive was Redondo vs. Rangeview (Aurora, Col.) and the Sea Hawks pulled out a 65-60 victory behind 17 points from Holley, 15 from Wilson and 13 from Nevada-bound guard S.J. Madison.
Ronnie Flores is the national Grassroots editor of Ballislife.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @RonMFlores
