Renaissance Academy

BURBANK — The Burroughs High boys' basketball team was probably hoping to ease into its season opener Tuesday. But Renaissance Academy was not going to let that happen. In a pool-play game in the 42nd annual Bulldog Tip-Off Classic, the Wildcats welcomed the Indians to their new campaign with a swarming pressure defense that took Burroughs out of its game. The defensive onslaught helped cause 24 Indians turnovers, allowing the Wildcats to breeze to a 49-25 victory at Burbank High.

BURBANK — Just 16 minutes into a new season, strides had been made by the Renaissance Academy basketball team. The Wildcats, who advanced to the CIF semifinals last season, graduated several key players. That's left Renaissance Coach Sid Cooke to mix and match in trying to find the right lineup combination for the young Wildcats. Renaissance held strong in the first half, but came up short in the second as it suffered a 73-52 loss to Crenshaw on Monday night in a pool-play contest of the 42nd annual Bulldog Tip-Off Classic at Burbank High.

GLENDALE — You could form a pretty lethal basketball team just from the list of all-league, and in some cases All-CIF, players who graduated from the four area boys' teams that made the CIF playoffs last season. Flintridge Prep will forge on without its four-year starting backcourt of Edmund Chow and Jonathan Woo, while Crescenta Valley lost its pair of aces in the post, Coltrane Powdrill and Nick Dragovich. Renaissance Academy is a vastly different team without its Big Three of Gil Tacita, Dushon Carter and Bryan Bourgeoise and St. Francis bid farewell to standout guard Tommy Jordan.

GLENDALE — According to Renaissance Academy boys’ basketball Coach Sid Cooke, his team’s chances of returning to the CIF championship game for the first time since 2007 will hinge on which Wildcats team shows up to play Sierra Canyon in today’s 7 p.m. Southern Section Division 5-A semifinal at St. Francis High. Will it be the team that trailed unseeded Arrowhead Christian Academy after the first quarter in the first round or the one that went on to bury the Eagles by 27 points?

Once he arrived in California from his native land of Guadeloupe in the summer of 2008, Gill Tacita had plenty to learn without much time to learn it. First, he needed to grasp the English language. In addition, Tacita also learned that the skill level of basketball in Guadeloupe didn’t compare to that in the United States, where it’s one of the more popular sports to play and follow from the high school ranks to the NBA. Tacita’s comprehension of English vastly improved and so has his basketball skills while playing forward for the Renaissance Academy basketball team.

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE — In recent seasons, the Renaissance Academy and Price boys’ basketball teams have developed a mutual respect for each other. It’s began during the postseason in 2005 and hasn’t simmered since, though the squads are not in the same league and no longer compete in the same division. All three postseason meetings had plenty at stake. In their latest chapter, the teams met in a regular-season contest. In front of a packed house Thursday night, host Renaissance put up a respectable battle, but suffered a 70-57 nonleague home loss to powerhouse Price.

BURBANK — For most of the night, the Renaissance Academy basketball team seemed destined to make another appearance in the championship game of the annual Bulldog Tip-Off Classic. The Wildcats got plenty of rebounding and featured a strong inside presence. It all vanished in the fourth quarter. Renaissance saw its offense go cold in the fourth quarter and suffered a 46-41 loss to Mark Keppel in a semifinal game of the tournament’s 41st installment on Friday night at Burbank High.

GLENDALE — The following are odds and ends from the local sports scene .   FALCONS RESUME LOFTY PERCH Amid a torrid start to the 2009 season, the Crescenta Valley High softball team has regained the title it held the majority of last season, that of the No. 1-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division III. Led by the big bat of all-time state home run queen Baillie Kirker and the 1-2 pitching punch of...

SAN GABRIEL — Though still early in the season, things appear to be turning around for the members of the Renaissance Academy basketball team. There won’t be any parades up and down Foothill Boulevard in the next month, but at least the Wildcats seem to be getting acclimated as a unit after the 2007-08 squad reached the CIF-State Division V championship contest last winter in Sacramento. The Wildcats will take any and all victories, even at the expense of a neighbor.

BURBANK — It’s been a tough go for Sid Cooke in trying to put the pieces together. With key players having graduated or transferred, the Renaissance Academy basketball coach has found mixing and matching to be a painful process with a lineup that’s been decimated by injuries. “You can see it on the court, but I can live with it,” said Cooke, whose team suffered a 71-55 loss to View Park Prep on Saturday afternoon in the seventh-place contest of the 40th annual Bulldog Tip-Off Classic at Burbank High.