Led by sharp-shooting guard Billy Keller and 6-10 center Conor Clifford, Ocean View is tabbed the top-seeded team for Santa Barbara’s Holiday Classic boys basketball team tournament.
The tournament tips off Monday, Dec. 27 and runs through Thursday, Dec. 30.
The tourney is divided into two events, an eight-team bracketed tournament and a four-team round-robin competition. The bracket winner and the team with the best record in pool play will meet for the championship.
San Marcos is the No. 2 seed in the bracket. The Royals (9-2) open against Oxnard at noon on Monday. Christian Mkpado leads them in scoring with a 13.4 average followed by Thayer White at 10.5 points per game.
San Marcos earlier won the Coast Union Tournament.
Oxnard will come into Santa Barbara with a 7-5 record. The Yellowjackets are led by 6-2 forward Matt Ramon, who averages 19.5 points per game.
Santa Barbara (2-7) is playing in the round-robin event, and the Dons will open against Arlington of Riverside on Monday at 6 p.m. Agoura (5-5) and Northwood (5-5) are the other teams playing the round robin series of games.
Keller scored 30 points in his last outing for Ocean View, which finished runner-up in the CIF 3-AA Division last year.
Ocean View (7-2) opens tournament play against West Torrance at 4:30 p.m. The Warriors (4-3) have a 6-8 center in Shawn Ray and good guards in Brandon Yamada and Rashad Cobb.
Rounding out the first day of play in the bracket tourney are Troy (5-6) against Leuzinger (4-4) at 3 p.m. and Clovis West (7-3) against Burbank-Burroughs (2-7) at 7:30.
Clovis West features 6-2 shooting guard Denzel Johnson, who’s signed with Santa Clara. Leuzinger also as a top recruit in point guard Marshawn McMahon.
