III-A first round results

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SoCalHoops High School News

CIF Southern Section Playoffs: Division III-A
First Round Results--(Feb. 20, 1999)

We've seen better holiday tournament brackets than this; there are really only two, possibly three teams we'd consider "good" in this division, which doesn't say much for the rest of the group, but hey, they're here and a lot of other teams with much better records aren't. But we just have to ask, who was the genius who decided to have an entire bracket devoted to just 6 "qualifier" teams and 2 "at-large" teams? Is this the best the CIF could do? Time for the principals and AD's to get together with the Commissioners and figure out what to do next time, because this really isn't much of a bracket.

And what this little bit of wonderful seeding and selection has resulted in is. . .(drumroll). . . . one Semifinal game between two Mission League opponents, Chaminade and Harvard-Westlake--two teams that have already played twice this year--, and the other Semifinal between Nordhoff, (a division III team which tied in the Frontier League with tiny Santa Clara, a n V-AA team, and Corona Del Mar, a team which made it in as an "at-large" team and which didn't finish in the top three of the Sea View League (which features Corona Del Mar, El Toro, Irvine, Newport Harbor, Santa Margarita and Woodbridge). Whoopee. And consider that Chaminade, the No. 1 seed in the bracket, advanced to the Semifinal round (which won't be played until February 26, next Friday at alternate sites) by defeating a team with an overall losing record (11-16).

The solution, it seems to us, would be to combine this division with D-III-AA and have one competitive playoff tournament, a division which would take the 20 teams in D-III-A and the 24 teams in III-AA and at least provide something more befitting a Section tournament.

Here's a summary (assuming one is really necessary) followed by the details.

Upper Bracket

Chaminade 58, Estancia 34
Harvard-Westlake 80, Morningside 66

Lower Bracket

Nordhoff 62, Northview 56
Corona Del Mar 62, Banning 51

Here are the details:

Upper Bracket

Chaminade 58, Estancia 34--This was a game dominated by Chaminade from start to finish, and the Eagles held Estancia to single digit scoring for all but the fourth quarter, outscoring them 14-6, 9-8, and 23-9 in each of the first three quarter. There wasn't a single scorer for Chaminade who was really dominant, but they relied on balanced scoring: Ryan Arceo hit for 9, Chris Canoles 5, Cayce Cook 11, Scott Borchart 6, J.J. Todd 5, Robbie Tanoyue 2, Nick Lawson 4, Santogrossi 2, Johnson 2, Cloarence Mitchell 2, Darren Tarlow 4, D'Egidio 4, and Lefebvre 2. Estancia finishes it's season at 11-16

Harvard-Westlake 80, Morningside 66--Rickey Rico scored 18 points for Inglewood, but Todd Kurihara had 16 of his 18 points in the second half as Harvard-Westlake beat visiting Morningside. Russell Lakey contributed 17 points and had 12 assists. Lakey also made two of his five three-point attempts. Harvard-Westlake had 11 three-pointers. Alex Minn had 7 points and 8 assists, Alex Holmes scored 5, Dan Kinzer had 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Eric Geffner had 8 points, Brian Berkett finished with 2, Chris Hools 6, Chuck Gillig 3, and Craig Weinstein 3. Morningside jumped out to a two point lead at the end of the first quarter 18-16, but then fell behind in the second quarter and trailed at the half 34-32. Harvard-Westlake came out strong after the half, outscoring Morningside 20-13 in the third, and 26-21 in the fourth for the win. Harvard-Westlake, which is now 15-12, now gets to meet league opponent Chaminade in the Semifinals of D-IIIA play. For Inglewood, Cathey had 6, Tatum 11, Lawrence 9, Johnson 5, Trotter 16, Ricky Rico 18, and Praise 1

Lower Bracket

Nordhoff 62, Northview 56 (2OT)--Etienne Emanuel scored baskets at two crucial moments, first as time expired to tie the score in regulation and send it to overtime, and also in the second overtime, when he got both an assist and hit a three-pointer as Nordhoff won. Nordhoff was led by Andy Flores with 20, Emanual with 16, Rich 2, Popp 4, Brown 8, Baier 7 and Labrot 5; Northview was led by Washington with 16, Del Real 2, Samudio 5, Butler 10, Laws 12, and Mercado 11. This was a defensive battle, characterized by low scoring in virtually every quarter. Nordhoff managed to squeak out to an 11-8 first quarter lead, but then trailed by one at the half as Northview came back and outscored them 11-7 in the second quarter. In the third quarter, the teams played to the first buzzer tie, as Norhoff outscored Northview 12-11; both teams had a frantic scoring rush, playing to a 19-19 tie in the fourth quarter. In the first overtime, both teams scored 5, and ultimately Nordhoff had just enough left, outscoring Northview 8-2 in the second overtime for the win. Northview finishes the season at 14-11, while Nordhoff advances to play Corona del Mar in the other Semifinal game next Friday night, February 26 at a site to be announced later.

Corona Del Mar 62, Banning 51--In its first playoff appearance since 1994, Banning fell to Corona del Mar, 62-51, in the first round of Division III-A playoffs Friday night at Nicolet Middle School in Banning. Alec Hansen led Corona del Mar (17-10) with 23 points. Dennis Alshuler had 18. Andrew Brownlee and Darius Stuart each had 13 for Banning (15-12). Banning also got 11 from Mike Davis and 10 from Scott Foster. Corona del Mar led 14-12 following the opening period and jumped out to a 32-18 halftime lead. Hansen led the charge, scoring 10 of the Sea Kings' 18 second-period points. Hansen's defensive assignment was to shut down Stuart, who didn't score until the third period. The Broncos shot 6 of 25 from the field in the first half. Stuart helped Banning cut the Sea Kings' lead to five when he scored 11 points in the third. Banning's run cut the lead to 43-34 heading into the fourth period. Later the Broncos got within 45-40 on Scott Foster's three-pointer with 6:06 left. Corona del Mar responded by increasing its lead to eight and Banning would get no closer as the Sea Kings took advantage of Banning's cold shooting late in the third and later in the fourth. CORONA DEL MAR (62) -- A.Hansen 23, Morris 2, Alshuler 18, Hunt 2, K.Hanson 8, Bottom 2,Shea 7. BANNING (51) -- Brownlee 13, Davis 11, Foster 10, Johnson 2, Randall 2, Stuart 13. Halftime score -- Corona del Mar 32-18. Three-point goals -- A.Hansen 4, Forster 2, Davis, Stuart. Total fouls -- Corona Del Mar 17, Banning 15. Fouled out -- K.Hansen.