Rose City Roundup: Holiday hoops tournaments return later this week

The Rose City Roundup returns with the winter season already into the thick of things.

Nonleague basketball is going on across the state while wrestling tournaments have been happening each weekend with local grapplers competing.

Down below you’ll find some early headlines from the first few weeks of action, and below that you’ll find a roundup of more action that’s gone down in the city.

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Stories from the winter season so far

New faces, same goals for Cleveland girls basketball for 2025-2026

Franklin girls basketball setting the tone for more to come with 2025-2026 squad

Portland Christian boys basketball forming new identity with same goal in mind

Azari Stidum, De La Salle North Catholic girls basketball looking to advance the program

'Always us:' Central Catholic boys basketball coming together for 2025-2026 run

Jayla Lackey, Benson girls basketball open season stronger and calmer

Cleveland, Lincoln and Wells boys basketball winning

There’s no doubt the PIL is going through a transition period this year in boys basketball, but Cleveland, Lincoln and Wells are picking up some early wins.

The Warriors are sitting at 4-3 after falling to Westview 74-42 but recovering to beat Forest Grove 52-45 this past week. They also have wins over Redmond, Mountain View and Sprague.

Lincoln is the only other squad in the PIL above .500 at 3-2. The Cardinals have won their past two games 82-68 over Reynolds and 71-38 over Tigard. The other win was down in Eugene against North Medford 60-57.

Ida B. Wells has recovered from an 0-4 start and won its past three games. The three wins include a 58-46 victory over Century, a 58-50 win over Forest Grove and a 65-59 defeat of McMinnville.

Wells also has played arguably the two best teams in 6A in Southridge and Central Catholic, and held a halftime lead over the Rams before falling in the second half.

Early wins for local girls hoops

There’s no slowing down the Benson girls basketball team, who might be the best hoops squad in the city this season.

The Astros are 3-0 with wins over Nelson, Sherwood and Beaverton, who are all top 10 or possible top 10 squads.

Benson isn’t alone in the win column as the girls at St. Mary’s Academy are off to a 4-1 start. The Blues dropped their season opener to Roseburg and have won their past four games over David Douglas (54-45), South Eugene (33-21), Hillsboro (44-25) and McDaniel (41-38).

At the 3A level, Riverdale is off to a strong start as well at 5-2. The Mavericks started the week with a close 36-39 loss to Elmira, but recovered with wins over Gaston (62-29) and Catlin Gabel (44-21) at their home tournament.

The Les Schwab Invitational returns

The 29th annual Les Schwab Invitational is back and it’s one of the best fields for city schools in the tournament’s history inside Viking Pavilion at Portland State University.

Four local squads in Central Catholic, Parkrose, Roosevelt and Grant are competing in the tournament, which features an odd 18 teams for the first time.

The Roughriders got a rough draw from tournament organizers, being dumped into the consolation bracket automatically to help fit the awkward 18-team bracket. They’ll play in the opening game of the tournament against Westview at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 26, the team that eliminated the Riders in last year’s state tournament.

Game 2 will feature Parkrose taking on Nelson at noon Dec. 26, followed by Central Catholic playing Canby at 3 p.m. Dec. 26. Grant begins its tournament against the favorite in Columbus (FL) at 5:15 p.m. Dec. 27.

POA Holiday Classic returns

The best holiday tournament in our humble opinion is the Pacific Office Automation Holiday Classic hosted by the PIL across the city featuring 64 girls basketball teams in eight different brackets.

Four top 30 teams in MaxPreps’ preseason rankings are coming to compete in the Rose City in No. 5 Etiwanda (CA), No. 9 Mater Dei (CA), No. 10 Tualatin and No. 27 Sage Hill (CA).

Those first three teams are all in the Diamond Bracket, which also includes Benson. The Astros start with Annie Wright (WA) at 5 p.m. Dec. 27 at Franklin High School. With a win, the Astros could line up with Etiwanda in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 29 at Franklin.

But Benson is far from alone as all eight of the other PIL squads will be competing, along with Central Catholic and St. Mary’s.

Here are all their brackets and first round matchups:

Central Catholic: Ruby Bracket vs. Tigard, 3 p.m. Dec. 27, McDaniel High School

Cleveland: Ruby Bracket vs. Liberty, 1:30 p.m. Dec. 27, McDaniel High School

Franklin: Ruby Bracket vs. Sunset, 10:30 a.m. Dec. 27, McDaniel High School

Grant: Pearl Bracket vs. North Medford, 1:30 p.m. Dec. 27, Lincoln High School

Ida B. Wells: Jade Bracket vs. Mountain View, noon Dec. 27, Benson High School

Jefferson: Sapphire Bracket vs. St. Joseph’s (CA), 1:30 p.m. Dec. 27, Franklin High School

Lincoln: Emerald Bracket vs. Beaverton, noon Dec. 27, Grant High School

McDaniel: Opal Bracket vs. McKay, 5 p.m. Dec. 27, McDaniel High School

Roosevelt: Opal Bracket vs. Gresham, 6:30 p.m. Dec. 27, McDaniel High School

St. Mary’s: Opal Bracket vs. Roosevelt, 1 p.m. Dec. 28, Franklin High School

Wrestling highlights

The best chance at a boys wrestling state title remains in the hands of Jefferson senior Titus Rodela, who has started the year 9-0 with two tournament titles.

It started by breezing through the Tyrone S. Woods Memorial Tournament Dec. 6 with five wins, which included three tech falls, one major decision and a 16-9 decision.

Then it was the Rick Sanders Invitational where Rodela picked up a pin, tech fall and two major decisions, including a 15-2 win in the title bout.

Ida B. Wells sophomore Shae Morrison has emerged as a threat from the 126-pound division, winning the Rick Sanders Invitational with two tech falls, a 4-3 decision in the semifinals and a 6-1 win in the title match.

Morrison kept it going this week at the Mountainside Tournament, making it to the title match via a tech fall and two pins. He fell to Jorge De La Rosa, a defending state champion from Forest Grove, 9-1 in the title match.

On the girls side, there’s no slowing down senior Zorina Johnson who won the Canby Tournament this past week with three tech falls and two pins. The last tech fall came in the title match 20-5.

That title joins her titles in the Rick Sanders Invitational and the Century girls tournament to start the season.

A handful of girls have won tournament titles this season, including a few more at the Canby Tournament.

David Douglas’ Faith Williams won at 130, Lincoln’s Sofia Patterson won at 110 and Roosevelt’s Niazeal Orduna-Torres won at 100.

The week prior at the Rick Sanders, Jefferson’s Dominic Rodela also walked away with a title, winning the bracket at 190.