Boys’ basketball: Big-time talent at Fairfax tournament

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The talent on display Thursday night at the Fairfax tournament would have drawn college basketball recruiters en masse if they could have attended. And the two quarterfinal games were terrific.

First, Santa Monica knocked off Los Angeles Price, 67-64. Sophomore Jordan Mathews scored 22 points, including a clutch basket with 31 seconds left in which he went one-on-one against 6-foot-9 Norvel Pelle and beat him with a jump shot.

Then Woodland Hills Taft and Santa Ana Mater Dei went at it, Taft falling behind by 11 points in the first half before rallying to beat the Monarchs, 79-66. Taft had five players score in double figures. Khiry Williams had 16 points, Kevin Johnson 15, Chris Yanku 14, Stephen Maxwell 14 and Spencer Dinwiddie 12.

Mater Dei showed off one of the best freshmen in the state, if not the nation, in 6-5 Shaqquan Aaron, who made three three-pointers and finished with 16 points.

‘He’s got all the potential in the world,’ Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said.

It sets up Friday’s semifinals in which Taft will play Santa Monica at 6 p.m. and Long Beach Poly will play Dorsey at 7:30 p.m. The winners will face off Saturday at 6 p.m., and a Poly-Taft final is likely.

-- Eric Sondheimer