DV311.htm

SoCal High School & Prep Report

CIF State Playoffs: Southern Region
Division V First Round Games--(March 11, 1998)

Southern California vs. Northern California Champion,
Saturday 3/21
at ARCO Arena, Sacramento, 11:45 a.m.

As a reminder, we'll keep the plug for the State Finals at the top of each of the reports for the respective regions.

Looks like Horizon is on it's way to another State Championship. Last night they destroyed Laguna Blanca by 63 points; Horizon will face Santa Clara on Thursday, which beat Central Valley Christian. In the other half of the bracket, in what will be a battle of the preps, Rolling Hills Prep will face Pacific Hills (formerly Bel-Air Prep) on Thursday in the other semifinal. We couldn't find much in the way of results from either the PH or Rolling Hills games, but we know that there is someone out there who saw these games who would be willing to share the info with all of our readers: e-mail it in and we'll put it up. For now, here's what we have.

Division V

Horizon 91, Laguna Blanca 28

Horizon, the defending State Champions in Division V, blew Laguna Blanca away, winning by 63 points in the first round of the Southern Regionals of the State Championship playoffs. It was not as though the win was totally unexpected either. Horizon is now 26-2 on the season and will advance to Thursday's semifinals against Oxnard-Santa Clara. Laguna Blanca completed its best season, going 21-6, winning the Condor League and finishing as runnerup in CIF-Southern Section Division 5A.

Horizon has a front line of 6'-11" 6'-8" and 6'-6" and they've got two guards who can dunk. They feature Detrick Watts, the son of former NBA player Slick Watts. Laguna's tallest player is 6'-5" Chris Tamas. So when Laguna Blanca's coach Chas Prior heard that they would be playing Horizon, which had lost to L.A. City powerhouse Crenshaw by only two points, he knew he was in trouble.

Horizon jumped out immediately to lead the game, and took a 24-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. Horizon held Laguna Blanca to only three points in the entire second quarter, and they led by 38 points at the half, 51-13. In the second half, Laguna basically gave up any chance of a comeback; Prior just told his guys to "go out and have fun" and to "set some picks".

We're not sure whether they had any fun, or whether they set any picks, but they only scored another 15 points in the rest of the next 16 minutes. Jon Keith, 6'-1" center, led the Owls with 11 points. Horizon was led by guard Chris Monroe with 16 points.

The final scoring for Laguna Blanca was Scott with 2, Lewis 2, Tamas 5, Cochran 5, Ferguson 3, and Keith wioth 11 points. Horizon had six players in double figures, including Jones 14, Monroe 16, Bernard 10, Watts 10, Rodriguez 12, and B. Jensen 10. Others scoring for Horizon were Grandison 4, Harrington 1, Robinson 6, T. Jensen 6, and Fellows 2. Horizong had 6 three pointers: Jones 2, Bernard 2, Rodriguez 2. Laguna Blanca had just a lone three from Tamas.

Santa Clara 67, Central Valley Christian 49

The Central Valley Christian High boys' basketball team felt the impact of Santa Clara's Nick Jones on Tuesday night. Jones, who missed most of the season with a broken foot, had 23 points, 13 rebounds and six assists to lead the Saints past the Cavaliers, 67-49, in a Southern Regional Division V first-round playoff game at Charles Marshall Court. Jones missed most of the Saints' regular season after injuring himself in practice. His absence contributed to Santa Clara's 14-13 record entering Tuesday's game. Central Valley Christian finishes at 24-5.

Santa Clara, the Southern Section Division V-A runner-up, took control of the game with a 13-0 run during a four-minute stretch of the first quarter that saw the Saints build a 17-7 lead. Central Valley Christian, the Central Section champion, could get no closer than eight points the rest of the way. The Saints' speed and quickness and sheer athletic ability led to several second-shot opportunities and a 34-26 rebounding advantage. An 8-2 run got CV to within eight at 40-32, with 2:15 left in the third quarter, but Jones then came right back with a three-point play.

B.J. Ward scored 27 points, had eight rebounds and four assists. Central Valley Christian was led by Blake Van Der Schaaf's 23 points.

Rolling Hills Prep 55, Cambria Coast Union 53

Sophomore forward Jason Zellers scored 18 points for the Huskies (26-3). BJ Hart had 14 points and Kai Edwards scored nine for the Huskies who will play at Pacific Hills on Thursday night in the semifinals. Roberto Covey had 19 for Coast Union in the loss.

Pacific Hills 90, La Jolla Country Day 49

Ryan Abrahams led a balanced attack with 18 points as the Bruins (25-7) had no problem winning in the first round at Daniel Murphy High. Sharif Joshua had 12 points while Brandon Owens had 8 points and seven assists. Pacific Hills will now host Rolling Hills Prep in the Regional Semifinals on Thursday night.