By Spencer Stueve
Like many high school basketball teams, the Pasadena High School Bulldogs opened their season in a pre-Christmas tournament. The Rose City Roundball Classic is one of the best high school basketball tournaments in Southern California, and the Bulldogs were one of the best teams to participate.
In the opening game, PHS took on Eagle Rock High School and the game quickly turned into a route. The Bulldogs won 73-31, and then two days later, they beat Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Mary 73-52 behind Bryce Hamilton’s 32 points and 24 from Darius Brown II.
PHS would move to 3-0 by beating Loyola High School before taking on Oak Park, one of the strongest teams PHS will face all season. The game ended up being a battle of two division 1 prospects. Hamilton, who will attend UNLV on a basketball scholarship next season, scored 32 again for the Bulldogs to lead the way. Oak Park was led by Riley Batton, a University of Utah signee, who scored 25 and pulled down 10 rebounds. Unlike the previous three games for Pasadena, the game would be close, and they would finish on the wrong side of the close score. The game ended with Oak Park up 61-60 at the end of overtime.
Pasadena does not play again until the opening game of the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas on Dec. 20.
