What we witnessed at the Monterey Bay Classic

Caught most of the 22nd Annual Monterey Bay Classic on Saturday and here's what and who stood out:

* Irvine Valley beat Monterey Peninsula College 69-56 as Andrew Young scored 19 points for the hosts. The Orange County bunch didn't have a player who could individually match up with Young but did a good job all game of denying entry passes or forcing them into lobs more than crisp tosses.

* Santa Rosa Junior College was too much for Los Medanos, winning 88-64. It was 47-39 in favor of the eventual winners at the half but 5-6 inefficient looks opening the second half put LM too far behind to make it a game again. SRJC is all about unselfishness, spacing and ball movement plus the all important nailing of the open jumper. 5-foot-8 freshman Max Fujii totaled 13 points and proved he definitely can produce at this level. Fujii doesn't make mistakes, kept in front of his opponent defensively, sees the floor and gives up the ball plus he is money if left alone outside, and also way outside. It's going to be fascinating to see is someone from the D-1 level will beckon.

* Yuba College led Sierra College 45-39 at the half before winning going away 97-67. Also noteworthy is that this was accomplished without the availability of Travon Abraham, who is out with an injury. Sierra closed to within 10 points midway or so through the second half but the 49ers then went on another scoring binge. Also, forget about playing scoring averages with Yuba as Coach Doug Cornelius has so many talents available that the shots, and therefore points, are willingly distributed. Sophomore Spencer Butterfield was named the tournament most valuable player.

Sierra's Jamie and Julian Ball are the best talents for Coach John Fusano. Each should be at the D-1 level next year, in complementary roles.