Classic at Damien: Top Performers – Liberty vs. Rancho Christian

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>La Verne — The Classic at Damien has become one of the premier post-Christmas high school basketball tournament stops on the West Coast.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This year's Damien field has expanded to seven divisions and 112 teams and seven champions will be named over the course of the five-day event.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Tuesday marked the start of the tournament's main division which featured top teams from California, Washington, Nevada, Utah and Idaho. In this piece we take a closer look at the top performers from Harvard-Westlake's semifinal win over Curtis of University Place, Washington.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3>Liberty 63, Rancho Christian 60</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='989243' first='Angelo' last='Kambala'], Liberty</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kambala is one of the better shooters/scorers out west and dropped 12 of his 17 points in the second half to help lead Liberty into the Platinum Division championship game. The 6-foot Utah Tech-signee is known mostly for his perimeter shooting prowess, but he only knocked down two three-pointers on the night. Instead, Kambala attacked the closeouts chasing him off the line and got to the free throw line where he hit 7 of his 8 attempts from the charity stripe. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Austin Nassar, Rancho Christian</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Nassar is a guy whose impact on the game won't be seen in the box score but his energy and toughness set the tone defensively for the Eagles. The 6-foot-3 senior drew the task of guarding Dedan Thomas, Jr., one of the best point guards in the country, and did an admiral job of making Thomas' night difficult. Nassar really competes on the ball, moves his feet and chests the drive to keep the ball out of the lane and rebounds well for his size and position.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Dedan Thomas, Jr., Liberty</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Thomas put his table-setting hat on early as he looked to get teammates going offensively before he stepped in to close the deal. The 6-foot-1 junior point guard saw the opportunity to take over in the fourth quarter and ran with it as he scored 10 of his team-high 20 points in the final period to help get Liberty to the Platinum Division championship game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='986967' first='Javares' last='Reid'], Liberty</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Reid put his imprint on the game early in the first half as a physical defense and rebounding presence at the break. The 6-foot-8 junior scored eight first-half points and his presence as a paint scorer forced the Rancho Christian defense to collapse on his touches which opened up some perimeter offensive opportunities for the Liberty guards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>Kevin Patton, Jr., Rancho Christian</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While most of the other Rancho Christian starters were struggling to get things going offensively, Patton, Jr. had every aspect of his offensive game on full throttle. The 6-foot-8 wing was knocking down pull-up jumpers, driving by his defender and getting to the basket and using those drives to create contact and get to the free throw line. The senior finished with a game-high 26 points and single-handedly kept the Eagles within striking distance throughout.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":4} --> <h4>[player_tooltip player_id='994921' first='Titus' last='Davis'], Rancho Christian</h4> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When the Eagles needed a spark from someone other than Kevin Patton, Jr., Davis came off the bench and provided one from the perimeter. The 6-foot shooting guard knocked down three 3-pointers in the second half, including two in crunch time of the fourth quarter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->