Sports
Prep basketball roundup: Cleveland improves to 17-4 with win over El Camino Real
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There’s no slowing Cleveland High’s rise in the City Section basketball hierarchy this season.
The Cavaliers are 17-4 and 4-0 in the West Valley League after a 75-59 win over El Camino Real on Wednesday.
Serigne Deme, a 6-foot-8 junior center who became eligible last week after transferring from Blair, continued his impact play with 20 points and two dunks. Cayden Kelly, a 6-foot-6 senior, had 18 points, including 11 in the third quarter when he helped the Cavaliers pull away from El Camino Real.
Chatsworth 79, Birmingham 58: V’Elijahh Miller had 22 points and Alijah Arenas added 20 points and eight assists to lead Chatsworth.
Sun Valley Poly 86, Monroe 31: JD Wyatt scored 31 points for Poly. Quian Khawaja had 16 points and 10 assists.
Arleta 78, Verdugo Hills 63: Joaquin Corleto had 20 points, including four threes, for Arleta.
Venice 62, Fairfax 51: The Gondoliers improved to 4-1 in the Western League. Rodrigo Trujillo had 25 points for Venice, including seven threes. Venice has a big game on Friday against first-place Westchester.
Westchester 93, University 36: Freshman Tajh Ingram scored 20 points and Tajh Ariza added 16 points for the Comets. Ariza, however, was ejected, which means he will miss Westchester’s game against Venice Friday.
Damien 89, Upland 42: Elijah Smith finished with 23 points. Damien made 14 threes to advance to the semifinals of the Baseline League tournament.
JSerra 62, Mater Dei 52: The wild Trinity League race now has four teams with two losses after JSerra completed a sweep of the Monarchs. JSerra is 6-2, St. John Bosco 6-2, Santa Margarita 5-2 and Mater Dei 5-2. It was the Lions’ fourth consecutive win in the series with Mater Dei during the past two seasons. BJ Ray-Davis had 23 points for JSerra.
Santa Margarita 82, Orange Lutheran 36: Bryaden Kyman had 16 points for Santa Margarita (19-5, 5-2).
St. John Bosco 76, Servite 50: The Braves (22-4, 6-2) moved back into a tie for first place in Trinity League. Brandon McCoy scored 23 points.
St. Anthony 66, St. Paul 60: Donovan Pitts had 15 points for St. Anthony in the Del Rey League win. Dillon Chelsea led St. Paul with 21 points.
Malibu 85, Community Charter 39: Dylan Goosen scored 42 points.
Girls basketball
Birmingham 83, Chatsworth 39: The Patriots (16-6, 5-0) received 25 points from Kayla Tanijiri.
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Sports
Prep sports roundup: Matthew Witkow of Calabasas is six for six with two home runs
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Shortstop Matthew Witkow of Calabasas is committed to Harvard and off to a great start for the 2025 high school baseball season, going six for six with two home runs for the 2-0 Coyotes.
On Wednesday, he was three for three with four RBIs in a 10-5 win over Valencia in the Easton tournament.
Chaminade 4, Ventura 1: Adam Batmanian struck out six for the 2-0 Eagles.
Crespi 9, Westlake 1: Diego Velazquez, Nate Lopez and Gavin Huff each had two hits for Crespi (2-0). Tyler Walton gave up one hit in six innings.
El Camino Real 1, Camarillo 0: Luke Howe threw a complete game with no walks and Gavin Farley drove in Vince Venia for the winning run in the seventh.
Thousand Oaks 7, Sun Valley Poly 3: Matthew Magruder, Omar Heredia, Dane Holt and James Luderer each had two hits for the 2-0 Lancers.
Bonita 6, Crescenta Valley 0: Daniel Nageer struck out seven in 4 1/3 innings and Andrew Sanchez hit a grand slam for Bonita.
Bishop Alemany 12, Quartz Hill 4: Sophomore Chase Stevenson had two doubles and three RBIs for 2-0 Alemany.
Paraclete 5, Granada Hills 4: Carlo Ramirez struck out eight in six innings for Paraclete.
Birmingham 5, Santa Paula 1: Carlos Esparza stole five bases and added two hits and three RBIs for Birmingham.
St. Francis 3, Hart 2: Jayden Kim broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single in the seventh for St. Francis (2-0). Dominik Hidalgo had a two-run single in the sixth to tie the score.
Simi Valley 13, Chatsworth 8: Danny Pina had three hits and three RBIs and Jaxon Herron homered to lead 2-0 Simi Valley. Chatsworth’s Vicente Martinez went four for four.
West Ranch 6, Oaks Christian 3: Hunter Manning struck out eight in four innings for West Ranch (2-0).
Cleveland 6, La Canada 2: The Cavaliers (1-1) picked up the Easton tournament win. Kaeden Riepl threw 5 1/3 innings for the Cavaliers.
South Hills 4, La Salle 1: Zack Escalera had two hits and Victor Merlos had two RBIs for 2-0 South Hills.
Bell 6, Marshall 3: The Eagles (2-0) received two hits and two RBIs from David Gonzalez.
Softball
Orange Lutheran 8, Corona Santiago 2: Kai Minor went three for three and Rylee Silva and Ava Norton combined on a one-hitter for Orange Lutheran.
Norco 10, Murrieta Mesa 1: In a battle between two of the top softball teams in the Southland, Norco prevailed behind Ashley Duran and Dillyn Eckenrod, both of whom hit home runs. Peyton May struck out nine in five innings.
Sports
Why Real Madrid-Manchester City remains a ‘modern Clasico’ – despite mixed fortunes this season
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This is an updated version of a piece that was originally published in April 2024.
“Real Madrid vs Manchester City is a modern Clasico,” former Real Madrid coach Jorge Valdano said last April, previewing the two clubs’ 2023-24 Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Bernabeu.
The tie that followed did not disappoint. Madrid and City drew 3-3 in the Spanish capital before a 1-1 draw at the Etihad led to a penalty shootout that Los Blancos won en route to lifting a record-extending 15th European Cup/Champions League title.
The sides have experienced mixed fortunes in this season’s competition — but even meeting in the new play-off round cannot dull the rivalry’s shine. Madrid came from behind at the Etihad late on to beat City 3-2 last week, meaning they have now exchanged 30 goals in their past seven meetings. It also sets up an intriguing second leg at the Bernabeu tomorrow (Wednesday).
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This season is the fourth in a row that Madrid and City have met in the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition. Fans continue to be gripped, with that first play-off game setting a new streaming record for Amazon’s Prime Video service in the UK with figures of well over four million viewers.
There was an extra layer of intrigue in that match. City fans held up a banner that read, “Stop crying your heart out” in reference to Madrid forward Vinicius Junior being beaten to the Ballon d’Or award by Rodri and Madrid snubbing the ceremony in October. The Brazil international played a key part in the win and afterwards told Spanish TV station Movistar that the banner had given him “more strength to play a great game”.
In 2021-22, Madrid’s magical comeback in the semi-final second leg at the Bernabeu drove them into the final, where Liverpool were defeated 1-0. The following season, at the same stage of the competition, City produced a dominant home display to beat Carlo Ancelotti’s side 4-0 in the second leg before claiming their first Champions League title against Inter. Then there was that epic win on penalties for Madrid in the quarter-final at the Etihad last season.
The circumstances are different this campaign, with a win in this tie granting progress to the round of 16. Madrid only made the play-offs after finishing 11th in the inaugural league phase following defeats to Lille, Milan and Liverpool. City have struggled throughout the season and scraped through in 22nd place.
Madrid have long held European success in the highest possible regard, perhaps at times to the detriment of their domestic progress (for example, they have won the Copa del Rey, Spain’s equivalent of the FA Cup in England, just three times since lifting the trophy in 1993).
The story the club like to tell about themselves centres around this more than anything. Madrid have suffered damaging defeats to Barcelona in La Liga (4-0) and the Supercopa de Espana (5-2) this season — but those would surely be forgotten if they lifted another Champions League trophy at Munich’s Allianz Arena in May.
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Valdano’s point was not to totally discount the history of Madrid’s rivalry with Barcelona; he believes the recent meetings with City have taken on a greater importance recently in part because of familiar connections. It is also true that Barca appear better placed than either side to go all the way this season after finishing second in the league phase, automatically qualifying for the round of 16.
“Clasicos are built on rivalry and (City’s manager and former Barcelona player and coach Pep) Guardiola is the favourite enemy of Madridismo (Madrid fans),” Valdano told The Athletic last year. “It was enough to hear the response from the fans at the Santiago Bernabeu (in the 2023-24 first leg) after the speaker announced his name over the PA system. He was the most whistled.
“But 10 years ago and five years ago, we were all talking about Barcelona-Madrid. Now the footballing importance leads us to talk about Madrid-City as the best in the world.
“It’s very good, because history is being renewed. City are getting to know glory, which is difficult without having a previous context. City are new and economically influenced. Madrid are new in any era. They can always adapt to hitch a ride.”
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Guardiola usually gets a hostile reception at the Bernabeu (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Since Guardiola arrived in Manchester in summer 2016, the two teams have met a total of nine times (Wednesday’s game will be the 10th), with Madrid winning three to City’s four.
City’s sole Champions League triumph is dwarfed by Madrid’s 15. But Madrid still see City as one of their main rivals for European success.
“Surely, in the last seven or eight years, Madrid and City were the two most successful teams,” said a dressing-room source — who, like others cited here, preferred to remain anonymous because they did not have permission to speak.
“It’s true that City only won it (in 2023), but they came close to winning it many more times.”
Those behind the scenes at Madrid saw the play-off draw against City as an “early final”. Ancelotti’s coaching staff see Guardiola as very difficult to analyse and they rarely trust the line-ups and systems he uses in the weeks leading up to their encounters. City are fourth in the Premier League and Madrid’s coaches have been surprised by how much the loss of Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder Rodri to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury has affected them.
Vicente del Bosque, another former Madrid head coach and a World Cup-winning manager with Spain in 2010, agrees that Madrid and City have become the biggest draw in European football.
“I think both teams have dominated football in recent years and Madrid have maintained an extraordinary level,” Del Bosque says. “I remember 2022, with the 14th title and the comeback against City as the most spectacular.
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“City are one of the few teams that dominate Madrid with the ball, even though they have players to counter-attack. And Madrid look comfortable without the ball, taking advantage of transitions, even though they have players to control possession.
“Now there is a debate about the European Super League, I think playing these games as a knockout is better. I look at the sporting aspect, not the economic aspect, and it makes it more entertaining and more of a rivalry.
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Madrid’s Champions League comeback in 2022 made for spectacular viewing (Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
“When I was a player, and also as a coach, the great opponent was Bayern Munich. The Netherlands, with Ajax, and Italy, with Milan, also had teams that rivalled us, but not so much any more. Now the range has opened up.”
For their part, sources on Madrid’s board still see City as the team to beat. This is also due to the fact that, since the arrivals of Ferran Soriano as chief executive and Txiki Begiristain as sporting director (both, like Guardiola, formerly of Barcelona), City have grown as a club and earned the respect of Madrid, with whom they maintain a relationship of great admiration.
In this sense, Valdano dares to draw another parallel in the way both teams are structured centrally around one figure.
“Both at Madrid and at City, it is clear who is in charge,” he concludes.
“At Madrid, it’s (club president) Florentino Perez. At City, everybody knows it and nobody says it — but Guardiola won’t find he can work without a boss at any other club.”
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Sports
Kevin Durant tears up talking about playing for Team USA in Olympics: 'Game has saved my life'
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Talking about playing for Team USA had perennial NBA All-Star Kevin Durant in tears.
The new Netflix docuseries “Court of Gold” had behind-the-scenes access to all things basketball at the 2024 Paris Olympics, including Team USA, who Durant was starring for in his fourth Olympics.
In Netflix’s teaser video of the docuseries, which released on Monday, an emotional Durant had to stop midway through an interview to wipe his tears while talking about his time with Team USA and how much it means to him.
Team United States forward Kevin Durant (Kareem Elgazzar-USA TODAY Sports)
“I come from neighborhoods where people don’t even talk to each other,” Durant said with emotion. “There’s so much hate in the world, too. When people get to start laughing and joking for the game of ball, it’s cool to me.
“So, like, it gets me emotional, dog.”
Seeing the world unite through the game of basketball is something that still fascinates Durant to this day.
“It’s crazy to see people travel so long to come see their favorite player play in the Olympics,” he explained. “They send their money, they bring their whole family. It’s just dope to me.”
Durant went on to say that “the game has saved my life. It brought me and my family out of a lot of bulls—. I’m just grateful for it.”
Durant is one of many Team USA stars featured in the six-part docuseries, but he’s arguably the best player to ever wear the red, white and blue on his jersey.
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Memphis Grizzlies forward GG Jackson (45) guards Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant. (Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images)
Durant didn’t play for Team USA in the 2008 Olympics after his rookie season, but he’s been a part of the gold-medal winning teams over the last four Games. No player in USA Basketball history has four gold medals to their name.
Durant also has the most points ever scored by a Team USA basketball player, men or women, and he did so on his way to helping the U.S. win gold in Paris over France.
The Phoenix Suns star is 36 years old and has spent the past 17 years playing professional basketball after he was selected second overall by the then-Seattle Supersonics in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Durant has gone on to make 15 All-Star teams, win two NBA Finals with the Golden State Warriors, be the NBA’s leading scorer four times and make the All-NBA team 11 times.
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Kevin Durant (Quinn Harris/Getty Images)
There is no doubting Durant has future Hall of Famer written all over his resume, but he clearly loves playing the game for his country as well as in the NBA.
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