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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Pat McKinney: San Diego Playoffs:
News From Friday Night--(March 1, 1998)

Both Pat McKinney who maintains the great USDHS Dons Basketball site, and Paul Smith, assistant coach at Helix High, are keeping track of the San Diego Hoop scene. Here's Pat's report of the action from Friday night, in all divisions. And be sure to visit the Dons' site for news and updates on a great Division III team, which figures to match up with Chaminade sometime later in March, that is if Chaminade can get through Bishop Montgomery next week, and if USDHS can get past Clairemont in the San Diego D-III semifinals.

Ramona Ousts Serra

Division II First to Lose its Top Seed
By Pat McKinney
USDHS Dons Basketball Site
February 28, 1998

The biggest upset of the playoffs occurred in last night's quarterfinal matchup between top-seeded Serra (22-5) and Ramona (13-14). Serra, the Eastern League champion, took a 19-14 first quarter lead over Ramona, the 5th place team from the Avocado League, before Ramona came back to a 30-28 halftime lead. Ramona's senior guard Gene Paul severely twisted his ankle with 3:30 left in the first half, but came back in the second half to score 10 of his 14 points. Paul would sink two free throws with five seconds left to put his team up 58-57 and take the victory. Nate Cooper led all scorers for Serra with 27, but it was not enough to keep his team from going down. This game marked another example of the toughness of North County teams and the inability of City teams to keep pace. Serra had won 14 straight and risen to #8 in the County poll, but they are now gone from the playoffs.

Ramona could continue well into these playoffs as they draw the third place team from the Eastern League in the next round in 4th seed Point Loma (17-8). Point Loma made it to this game with some late game heroics from Mike Lang. The game was tight the whole way, but Lang recorded five steals in the last 11 minutes to pace his team. When Lang's thievery ended, Point Loma was up 45-40 and finished off a 50-44 win over University City. Cliff Roberts led UC with 18, but UC could not get its shooters going from long distance. Devin Shea only scored 9 and it was not enough for his team to win. Lang scored 13 and Point Loma was led by 14 from Lonnie Bailey. The semifinal between Ramona and Point Loma will take place Tuesday night at 5:30 at a neutral site.

The third and final Division II quarterfinal last night matched Monte Vista at #3 Eastlake. Eastlake had four players score in double figures which offset 34 from Harris in the losing cause for Monte Vista. Eastlake used a 19-13 second quarter to pull away and recorded an 82-73 victory. They will face the winner of tonight's game between El Cajon, featuring county scoring leader Kemmy Burgess, and #2 seed Oceanside.

Here are the scores and highlights for the remaining divisions:

Division I

#1 Rancho Buena Vista 60, #8 El Camino 50. CJ Fellars scored 18 and Phillips 17 for RBV. Marcus McGill scored 17 for El Camino as Aaron Abrams was held to 3 in a surprisingly close game.

#4 Rancho Bernardo 90, #12 Vista 67. The run ends for Vista despite 27 from Charlie Mercado. Rei Rivera scored 33 to set up another match-up of North County Powers. RBV and RB were ranked #3 and #4 in the County for much of the season and this could prove to be one of the best semifinals.

#2 Helix 67, #10 La Costa Canyon 46. Ron Johnson scored 22 in the blowout, but follow the link for more.

#3 Poway 79, #6 Grossmont 55. Joe Mann scored 21 and teammate John Insley 21 to help Poway blowout Grossmont. Vince Okotie managed 15 in his final game before heading to SDSU.

Division IV

Only one quarterfinal to report as Coronado and Holtville got together for the opportunity to play top seeded Lincoln (18-5). Colin Ayres scored 12 and pulled down 12 boards to lead #4 Coronado (17-7) to the 47-36 win.

Division V

#7 La Jolla Country Day 50, #2 Tri-City Christian 48. Cesar DonJuan scored 12 to lead LJCD to the upset.

#3 Francis Parker 61, Calipatria 58.

#4 Santa Fe Christian 56, Calvin Christian 55. SFC will play the winner of tonight's game between Escondido Adventist (16-6) at #1 Horizon (22-2).

Other than the two games mentioned above, the boys' semifinalists are set for Tuesday night. The girls will get together tonight to determine who will make the divisional final fours.