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LIVE UPDATES: 10TH Crush in Valley features Top 10 national recruits Caleb Holt, Bruce Branch, Christian Collins

Come back all day to see live action from star-studded event that includes national No. 1 team Prolific Prep, four Top 10 California teams and three Top 10 national players

Mitch Stephens

Bruce Branch III leads national No. 1 Prolific Prep in the 10th Crush in the Valley Jan. 23-25; Check out all the Saturday action, eight games in all, below live from Napa Valley College.
Bruce Branch III leads national No. 1 Prolific Prep in the 10th Crush in the Valley Jan. 23-25; Check out all the Saturday action, eight games in all, below live from Napa Valley College. / Photo by Jeff Klein

NAPA, Calif. — On your mark....get set.....let's go with one of California's top high school basketball showcases, the 10th Crush in the Valley at Napa Valley College.

Check below for Saturday's eight-game extravaganza which High School On SI will cover wall to wall with game detail, final stats, photos, quotes, Twitter updates and more color throughout the day. We're going in order from first game to last so continue to scroll down for latest results.

Look all day for great action photos from longtime stout Northern California photographer Sam Stringer.

SATURDAY SCHEDULE

9 a.m. —  Fremont-Oakland 79, Fortune Early College-Sacramento 35

The Tigers improved to 12-7 with a running clock victory thanks to big performance from Tyreese West. It was the fourth straight win for Fremont, which Friday night cruised past McClymonds 75-53. Fortune Early College perhaps wasn't fond of the early start and dropped to 11-6.

10:45 a.m. — Brave Christian-Dublin (16-4) vs. Vanden-Fairfield (16-5)

12:30 p.m. — Clovis North (14-9) vs. Moreau Catholic-Hayward (16-3)

high school boys basketball
Moreau Catholic's Isaiah Clendinen (4) had 16 points in Monday's win over Palma. / Photo by Sam Stringer

2:15 p.m. — DNA Prep vs. Southeastern Prep (27-8)

2:15 p.m. — DNA Prep vs. Southeastern Prep (27-8)

4 p.m. — Riordan-San Francisco (14-1) vs. Modesto Christian (14-5)

6 p.m. — Bella Vista Academy (13-2) vs. Prolific Prep (21-3)

Florida high school basketball
Prolific Prep senior guard Bruce Branch III hopes to make his mark at the Crush in the Valley Showcase at Napa Valley College Jan. 23-25. / Photo by Jeff Klein

7:45 p.m. —Salesian-Richmond(18-2) vs.St. Joseph-Santa Maria(22-2)

California high school boys basketball
Julius Price goes in for an empatic slam dunk during his team's decisive win over De La Salle at the 28th MLK Classic on Jan. 19, 2026 / Photo by Sam Stringer

9:30 p.m. —St. John Bosco-Bellflower (17-5) vs.St. Mary's-Berkeley(12-7)

2026 CRUSH PREVIEW

The always entertaining Crush in the Valley Showcase returns to Napa Valley College this weekend as does the organization which originally created it.

Prolific Prep, which after 11 seasons moved from Napa to Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) last spring, is the No. 1 team in the High School On SI national boys basketball computer and human rankings.

The Link, who feature two national top 10 2026 recruits in 6-foot-5 guard Caleb Holt and 6-7 guard Bruce Branch III, return to California to play three games, including a Saturday tilt against national No. 6 Bella Vista College Prep out of Scottsdale (Ariz.), which feature's the national No. 21 senior recruit in Jaxon Richardson, a 6-6 small forward.

MAJOR STAR POWER

Prolific Prep, coached by Ryan Bernadi, will likely boast the first two picks of the 2026 NBA Draft in alums Darryn Peterson, a 6-6 point guard from Kansas, and BYU 6-9 forward A.J. Dybantsa.

Peterson starred on the Link last season, not only leading the Link to a 35-6 season and Chipotle National semifinal berth, but also a 69-52 win over Dream City Christian at the same Crush in the Valley Showcase. Peterson had 27 points in that game that was played at Contra Costa College in San Pablo.

high school boys basketball
Prolific Prep's Darryn Peterson goes up for two of his game-high 27 points in last season's win over Dream City. / Photo: Greg Jungferman

Dybantsa was on the 2023-24 Prolific Prep team before transferring to Utah Valley Prep. He played in the 2024 Crush in the Valley Showcase but was injured in the third quarter and didn't return. Led by current Washington Husky standout Zoom Diallo, the Link won the premier game of the Crush in the Valley, 83-79. Remarkably, Tyran Stokes, the No. 1 player in the Class of 2026, was also on that Prolific Prep team. He's now at Rainier Beach (Seattle, Wash.) after his junior season at Notre Dame Sherman Oaks.

The 2025-26 Link, 21-3 after a 91-52 win over DNA Prep (Calif.), are also filled with loads of talent.

CURRENT LINK BLUE CHIPPERS

Holt, ranked No. 4 by 247Sports, is up to 22 college offers and according to 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein: "is physically imposing on the perimeter with a terrific combination of length, strength, athleticism, speed, and a wealth of intangibles. He’s competitive, plays hard, and imposes his will on both ends of the floor. He also has good perimeter size at 6-foot-5-plus with a 6-foot-9 wingspan." He appears to be leaning toward Arizona or Houston, but don't count out Kentucky or Arkansas.

Branch, ranked No. 6, also has 22 offers but his recruitment is all over the map. According to Finkelstein: "Branch is a big wing who is long and skilled with developing guard skills. His shooting is a legitimate, and still ascending, weapon. He leans back into his shot more so than he does rise up, but his release is very fluid."

High school boys basketball Florida
Bruce Branch III is long and so is his shooting range. / Photo by Jeff Klein

Other top senior recruits for the Link are Kansas-bound 6-9 center Davion Adkins and 6-9 power forward Alex Smith (Ohio State), ranked No. 68 and 119 respectively by 247Sports. Teammate Nasir Anderson, a 6-4 point guard, is the No. 8 national recruit from the Class of 2027, and Draydne McDaniel, a 6-7 forward, is one of the top freshmen in the country.

MORE HEADLINERS

* The other biggest name in the showcase is St. John Bosco 6-8 power forward Christian Collins, who doesn't play until the final game of the night, scheduled at 9:30 p.m. against St. Mary's-Albany. Collins is ranked No. 9 in in the country and has 23 offers with USC, UCLA, Kentucky, Alabama and Arizona in strong contention.

High school boys basketball
St. John Bosco's Christian Collins goes over three Eastvale Roosevelt players 12-30-2024. / Photo: Heston Quan

* More nationally ranked players in the event include (ranked by 247Sports): No. 27 PF Tony Bryant (Southeastern Prep, Missouri signee), No. 88 PG Julius Price (St. Joseph, Stanford); No. 99 CG Elias Obenyah (Salesian, Stanford).Other state-ranked:No. 15 CG Andrew Hilman (Riordan, USF); No. 16 C JP Pihtovs (Riordan); No. 28 SF Joustin Reyes (DNA Prep)

High school boys basketball, California
Stanford-signee Julius Price with two of his 16 points helping the Knights to a 19-point victory over host De La Salle on Monday at the MLK Classic. / Photo by Sam Stringer

* Along with three top 10 national players, there are four top 10 California teams in action, with two of them squaring off against one another: No. 6 St. Joseph versus Salesian in a rematch of the game played last season. St. Joseph won that won going away, 76-67 as Price (16 points) and Gunner Morinini (4 three-pointers, 14 points) led a big second-half surge after Salesian took a quick lead in the third quarter. Salesian's Obenyah and Carlton Perrilliat Jr. each carried Salesian with 20 points and lead the Pride on the payback tour. It's very likely that St. Joseph will return to the Northern California tournament — last season it was placed in the South — so this very well could determine the No. 1 seed in about six weeks.

California high school boys basketball
Salesian senior Elias Obenyah goes up for two of his game-high 26 points during a 74-62 win over Modesto Christian in the 28th MLK Classic at De La Salle on Jan. 19, 2026 / Photo by Sam Stringer

* Salesian was originally scheduled to play St. John Bosco, however when the teams met at the Damien Classic in December, a 61-58 Salesian win, all parties agreed to switch it up. St. Mary's, originally supposed to play St. Joseph, will now play Bosco.

* What gives the Salesian-St. Joseph matchup some extra juice is that fact that each team's leading scorers — Price and Obenyah — will be teammates next season at Stanford.

* The other premier high school game is Riordan versus Modesto Christian. This also has some significant postseason ramifications as both will likely be picked for the Northern California Open Division. Modesto Christian, led by junior guard Trevor Dickson (20.8 points per game), has somewhat of a score to setting having lost twice to Riordan over the years, 82-51 in 2020 and 55-41 in 2019. Riordan, with a very long, deep and talented bunch, would appear to have too much for the very young Modesto Christian team that boasts just one senior (6-3 guard Cole Martin) to go with three freshmen, three sophomores and five juniors. Riordan, the defending NorCal Open Division, has won 10 straight since its only defeat, 53-40 to Crean Lutheran on Dec. 11.

California high school boys basketball
Riordan guard DJ Armstrong (1) dribbles through the San Joaquin Memorial defense / Photo by Sam Stringer

Friday scores

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Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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