Prep boys’ basketball rankings: Burbank Titans standing tall; Ponderosa moving up
The Burbank Titans are off to a 9-0 start, have reached No. 3 in The Bee’s weekly rankings after starting off at No. 12. The first thing coach Lindsey Ferrell mentions about his fast, fun and prolific boys’ basketball team is his assistant coach.
“I owe it all to him,” Ferrell said of righthand man Darell Gordon. “I coached him. He was on my first boys’ team at Burbank (2008). He’s got some me in him, doing the same stuff I was doing when I was his age: Always in the gym, pushing the guys, and sometimes, I just sit back and let him do his thing.”
Ferrell is one of the region’s top coaches and personalities with 500-plus victories coaching the Titans girls and guys speaking a bit of his impact. He’s also taken some lumps. Ferrell used to coach so intensely that his doctor and family members urged him to tone it down or the stress would ruin him. He has, mostly. Otherwise, it’s like suggesting Tahoe ease up on the snow a bit this week.
COVID-19 also hit Ferrell hard earlier this season, forcing him to miss 10 days, which included five Burbank games. Coach Gordon and the Titans never missed a beat.
“Coach Gordon has earned his coaching stipend!” Ferrell said with a laugh. “Coach is doing awesome. Team is doing awesome.”
Ferrell added, “I got my three vaccination shots and was told by my doctor that I would’ve been hospitalized if I didn’t have them. Those shots helped me. COVID knocked me out for a while but not for good. I feel lucky.”
Ferrell also embraces the good fortune of a talented roster. It starts with star senior guards and stepbrothers Isaiah Griffin and Omari Nesbit. A 5-foot-11 guard, Griffin does it all. He is averaging 26.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.8 steals. Nesbit, a 6-foot shooter, is also all over the floor. He is averaging 24.1 points, 4.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals.
If those two aren’t the best athletes at the dinner table, then it’s a debate between which parent is. Ben Griffin was a scoring marvel at guard for Burbank in the 1990s. Isiah is his son and Omari his step son. Cherrae Rushton, proud mother/step mom of the guards, was a standout scholar-athlete at Valley in the late 1990s.
“I tell our guys that there are only a couple of cats around here who could ever do this - be late and we hold up the bus because they’re that important to us,” Ferrell said. “Ben Griffin was one of them. Our bus was ready to go, way back when I was an assistant with (Frank) Maestas, and we had to wait for Ben for a Yuba City tournament. He had the flu. We waited. Ben can’t jump like Isiah can jump - never. Isiah gets a couple dunks a game and can really score.”
On Nesbit, the coach said, “When I first saw him, he said he was a shooter, and he loves to shoot. He’s also a good passer. Doesn’t talk a lot but when he does, we all listen.”
Robert Holt leads Burbank in effort plays as the tireless soul on the roster. He is scoring 10.0 points and pulling in 5.3 rebounds.
“Robert plays 100 mph, and if anything, we’ve got to slow him down, throttle him down a little,” Ferrell said. “This kid will run through a wall for us. I’ll take that all day long.”
Brandon Haley, a 6-1 junior guard, gets the team in the offensive flow with his distribution. He averages 7.5 points and 5.5 assists.
“For us, it’s all about guard play,” Ferrell said. “They’ll take us as far as we want to go.”
The fifth Titans starter is relentless 6-2 senior forward Tyrone Weathersby, who averages a team-high 7.3 rebounds as fellow front court man Alfred McDaniels averages 6.5 boards.
When Ferrell learned of the Titans’ No. 12 preseason rankings, he challenged his team.
“I told them that we weren’t even the 12th-best team, that we’ve got to work harder, to be better, and that we don’t have the size we normally do,” Ferrell said. “But Isiah and Omari are my leaders. They’ve led the way.”
The Metropolitan Conference includes Burbank and decades-long rival Grant. A showdown with No. 2 Inderkum could happen in this week’s Cordova Christmas Classic.
Bruins uprising
Ponderosa has climbed to No. 5 in The Bee rankings after a 9-0 start, which included the Bruins rolling previously ranked No. 3 Folsom 58-34 in the championship game of Folsom’s Stan Harms Classic last week.
Ponderosa star 6-9 big man Aaron Bliss scored 20 points and had 24 rebounds in that contest. Casey Chaney had 17 points and eight boards for the Bruins and Nick von Zboray had 11 points and Casen Chaney had seven assists and eight rebounds.
Tourney time
▪ One of the biggest events in the state runs through Thursday, the “The Classic at Damien.” The first event was in 1981, running 13 years. It returned in 2017 with the expanded format of a 48-team, 3-division format with teams from California, Nevada and Arizona. Bee No. 1 Sheldon, with no local losses this season, is in the event, as are No. 5 Ponderosa, Jesuit and Sacramento.
▪ The 45th Cordova Christmas Classic started Monday at Cordova, a field that includes No. 2 Inderkum, No. 3 Burbank, No. 4 Grant, West Campus, McClatchy, San Juan and Cordova.
▪ The first Coach Corn Classic runs Tuesday through Thursday at Yuba College. It is named after longtime Yuba College men’s basketball coach Doug Cornelius, who just won his 450th game with the 49ers. The field includes No. 6 Elk Grove, No. 8 El Camino, upstart West Park of Roseville and Oakmont, Florin, Monterey Trail and Franklin of Elk Grove.
▪ No tournament is older than the Kendall Arnett at Placer’s famed Earl Crabbe Gymnasium. This week marks the 79th edition, named after the school’s Hall of Fame coach (the early years of the event was called the “Block P Tournament”).
Participating teams are Bear River, Colfax, Del Campo, Del Oro, Foothill-Palo Cedro, Nevada Union and Rio Americano.
The Bee’s Top 20
Records entering Monday
1. Sheldon 5-4
2. Inderkum 7-1
3. Burbank 8-0
4. Grant 6-1
5. Ponderosa 9-0
6. Elk Grove 8-2
7. Folsom 6-2
8. El Camino 8-2
9. Antelope 13-2
10. Oak Ridge 10-2
11. Wood 10-2
12. Rio Americano 8-3
13. Jesuit 6-3
14. Whitney 9-2
15. Sacramento 5-2
16. Capital Christian 4-6
17. Del Oro 10-5
18. Pleasant Grove 10-3
19. Bella Vista 8-3
20. Lincoln 10-2
Bubble teams: (alphabetical order): Granite Bay 9-7; Laguna Creek 8-4; Marysville 13-3, McClatchy 7-3; Oakmont 8-4; Placer 9-3; River Valley 6-5; Rocklin 7-7; Roseville 7-6; Union Mine 12-3; Vacaville 6-3.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 7:22 AM.