Prep basketball: Holiday Classic underway

Matin Madadkhar (24) of Torrey

Pines scores easily against O'Dea's

Brian Webster on a lefthanded

layup with 1:40 left in the first

quarter against O'Dea

Thurs., Dec. 28. At the time,

TPHS trailed, 16-12.

(Photos by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

A first takeway from watching Torrey Pines perform in their 33rd Annual Holiday Classic against elite competition Thurs., Dec. 28, was that Coach John Olive's quintet-plus is way too talented for any Central League team I've seen recently.

I haven't viewed much basketball lately, but from what little I have seen, I'd judge the Falcons are way too good for many other local squads.

In these days of transfer portals and Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) money for amateurs--we aren't watching Grandpa's basketball anymore--the have's take away from the have-not's. TPHS has stayed competitive, and they handled O'Dea High of Seattle easily, 71-54, the day after taking a beating from JSerra of San Juan Capistrano, the number-one team in California. (That latter score was 72-45 on Wed.)

Matin Madadkar, a talented 6'3" senior wing for Torrey Pines--who are co-coached by Olive and his heir apparent, former Falcon Jake Gilliam, 6'9", who is the designated coach allowed to stand alongside the sidelines during the game--scored on drives time-and-again during a stretch late in the first quarter and midway through the second quarter as TPHS began to pull away from O'Dea and build a 39-26 halftime lead.

TP's Tevaris Green (3) puts in another

layup against O'Dea late

in the second quarter as the

Falcons get into a rhythm and

separate by 15 points.

Madadkar, wily, quick, strong, would use his off-hand (left) to put the ball off the backboard as he challenged the Fighting Irish's big men underneath. The Falcons, ranked fourth in CIF San Diego, have other horses in their stable: besides number 24 (Matin), number 0, Max Zylicz, executed a change-of-pace stutter-step in front of the basket as he drove and easily banked the ball off the window to score just before halftime. His move thoroughly frustrated his defender.

And Olive's bunch weren't bad from three, either, sinking several shots when necessary on the way to their 17-point win. They face St. Edward Catholic of Ohio on day three of their tournament (Dec. 29).

It is amazing that Olive has been able to continue the Holiday Classic and build it up further in his 27 years of coaching at Torrey Pines. The tourney existed six years before he became head coach at TPHS.

Somehow the tournament made it through COVID, which killed a lot of events and institutions.