It's the historic event in the throwback gym.

For the 71st time, the Kendall Arnett Memorial boys basketball tournament will be held Thursday through Saturday in Placer High School's Earl Crabbe Gym, a facility that oozes memories on a campus in Auburn that became a high school in 1897.

The eight-team event is billed as the oldest continuing basketball tournament in Northern California.

In first-round games Thursday, El Camino plays Union Mine at 3:30 p.m., No. 20 Bear River faces Woodcreek at 5 p.m., No. 12 Colfax plays No. 14 Del Campo at 6:30 p.m., and San Juan meets Placer at 8 p.m.

The championship game is set for 8 p.m. Saturday.

The games will be played in a gym that was built in the late 1930s for $85,000 and named for longtime Placer coach and instructor Earl Crabbe, who had championship girls and boys teams dating to 1916.

Popular football, baseball and basketball coach Kendall Arnett started the boys tournament in the early 1940s. It was called the Block "P" Patriotic Basketball Tournament at the time and renamed in his honor when he died in 1954.

Titans to face titans? – No. 5 Antelope, which became the first team to win three consecutive titles in the 65th Carmel Invitational on Saturday, will play in the top-level invitational brack- et of the four-day, 120-team Maxpreps Holiday Classic beginning Wednesday in Palm Springs.

If the Titans can get past Bellevue, Wash., in their opener, they could face Fort Bend Travis (12-2) of Richmond, Texas, and the Harrison twins in the second round.

The Tigers are Maxpreps' No. 18 team nationally, and seniors Aaron and Andrew Harrison, who have verbally committed to Kentucky, are ranked among the top five players in the country by Rivals.com.

On Dec. 13, they combined for 36 points in leading the Tigers past California's No. 2 team, Archbishop Mitty of San Jose, 56-53.

Powerhouse teams from Chicago, New York, Mississippi and Southern California also are entered.

"This tournament is going to help us if we want to defend our section title (D-II) and get to the NorCal championship game," said Antelope coach Rob Richards.

No. 6 Bella Vista, Ponderosa and Sutter, of the Northern Section, also are entered in the tournament.

Title surprise – Sacramento coach Derek Swafford figured his No. 2 Dragons would be a long shot to repeat as champions in the upgraded 16-team St. Hope Elite Classic last week at Sacramento High.

But behind seniors Aaron Cameron (59 points, seven assists), James Hadnot (51 points, 33 rebounds) and Joseph Barnes (39 points, 13 steals) and freshman standouts Devin Young (56 points, 27 rebounds) and Christian Terrell (20 points, 13 assists), the Dragons won the tournament over a high-powered field.

After routing Ponderosa 68-45, the Dragons downed then-No. 2 Pleasant Grove 67-60, West Ranch of Santa Clarita 68-67 in overtime and Chaminade of West Hills 70-68 on Terrell's buzzer beater.

West Ranch was ranked No. 9 and Chaminade No. 11 in Southern California by the Los Angeles Times.

Sacramento and Pleasant Grove, which went on to beat Chico 72-59 and Inglewood 85-68 in the St. Hope tourney, now play in the four-day Oaks Christian Holiday Hardwood Invitational in Westlake Village.

In first-round games Wednesday, Sacramento plays Palisades of Pacific Palisades at 4:30 p.m., then Pleasant Grove takes on Centennial of Corona at 6. Centennial is ranked No. 12 in the state by Cal-Hi Sports.

More travel for Huskies – No. 1 Sheldon will be back on the road this week in the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic in San Diego.

The Huskies face Cantwell Sacred Heart (3-1) of Montebello in their 7:30 p.m. opener Wednesday.

The tournament concludes Saturday.

Sheldon is coming off a 2-2 performance in the Jerry Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas.

Sandwiched between wins over Durango of Las Vegas and Redondo Union of Redondo Beach were losses to Morgan Park of Chicago and Pinnacle of Phoenix.

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