IIAA225.

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: Division II-AA
Quarterfinal Round--(February 25, 1998)

Here are the scores and highlights for the quarterfinal round games in Division II-AA played last night. Because there were only four games, this report will be a little shorter than the rest. In the Semifinals, Compton (Region I) will face off against Region IV's Brea Olinda, which defeated San Marcos; the other semifinal game will feature Region II's Santa Margarita against Region III's Inglewood High and Bradley Jackson. Great matchups, and great games yesterday.

Region I

Compton 77, California 52

A 22-0 run to open the second quarter helped the top-seeded Tarbabes who are notw 25-5, take control of the game and set up a semifinal game agaisnt Brea Olinda, which is 24-4 this coming Friday night. The California Condors, who finish the seasons at 23-4, turned the ball over 18 times in the second quarter and were outscored 25-5. Junior guard Tito Maddox came off the bench to score a personal high of 17 points and dished out 8 assists for Compton. Deandre Moore had 16 points, 11 assists and six steals, while David Hamilton had 25 points, eight rebounds, and Reggie Howard had 15 points. The Tarbabes are trying to win their first CIF title since 1969.

Region II

Santa Margarita 62, Katella 60

The Eagles won the quarterfinal game (played at the neutral site of Brea Olinda) despite a 33-point performance by Katella guard Robert Abercrombie, who hit a three-pointer with 3:47 to play in the second quarter to cut the lead to 21-18. But with less than a minute left in the first half, Santa Margarita guard T.J. Williams scored off an assist from Jake Rohe for a 28-24 lead. Late in the third quarter, Abercrombie hit three consecutive three-pointers to pull Katella as close as 48-45. Abercrombie, a 6-foot-2 junior, hit eight of 14 three-point attempts. Early in the fourth quarter, Abercrombie scored on a layup off a steal to put the Knights ahead, 50-48. But Santa Margarita (26-2) regained control late in the game. Dekker McKeever tied the score, 60-60, on a dunk with 44 seconds remaining. Santa Margarita guard Craig Rice scored the winning layup off an assist from Rohe with six seconds left.

Region III

Inglewood 86, Troy 71

Jerry Inzunza scored 34 points and Scott Blake added 18 for visiting Troy (21-5), which led, 35-26 at halftime. Sean Jackson scored 28 points for third-seeded Inglewood (22-6), which made eight of its 11 three-pointers and scored 60 points in the second half.

Region IV

Brea Olinda 82, San Marcos 78 (OT)

Chris McMillian scored 24 points and made a steal and two free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining for the visiting Wildcats (24-4). Fourth-seeded Brea advanced to play top-seeded Compton, which defeated Whittier California, 77-52.

With time running out and San Marcos trailing by two, Chris McMillian of Brea Olinda stole a pass and was fouled. He made two free throws with 1.2 left to seal a tense 82-78 win. The Wildcats, 24-4, advance to the semifinals to play Compton. San Marcos finishes 20-7. The defining moment in the game probably occured in the final 30 seconds of regulation with the score tied at 72. Sonny Oden went up for a layup at the end of a fast break and made contact with McMillian. It was a bang-bang play which could have gone either way, but it went against the Royals as officials waved off the basket and called an offensive foul. San Marcos, which trailed 66-58 midway into the fourth quarter, also had two other slivers of a chance to win in regulation. McOwen stepped into a passing lane and made a steal in the final seconds, tossing a pass immediately upcourt to Oden. But the ball went a little too far and Oden had to dive out of bounds to save it. The Royals got the ball out of bounds with 0.1 left on the clock and managed to get a shot off when Brook Billings volleyed a pass from Oden toward the basket as he banged off bodies and fell to the floor. It missed. The key basket in overtime was a 3-pointer by Brea's Kyle Dodd that made the score 77-74 with two minutes to play. Two free throws by Billings cut the margin to 77-76, but Rasulee Webster made his second basket of overtime to make it 79-76. McOwen hit a jumper with 26 seconds to play, but the Wildcats ran the clock down under 10 seconds and San Marcos was forced to foul Dodd, who hit a single free throw. McMillian, a super-quick guard who has signed with Wyoming, then slid between Randy Moharram and Art Gutierrez for his game-clinching steal. McMillian led the Wildcats with 24 points, including four 3-pointers. The last came with three minutes to play in regulation after Oden had picked McMillian on consecutive plays for steals and converted both for layups to tie the game at 66.

For the San Marcos Royals, playing catch-up was a recurring problem. Although they tied the score five times in the second half and overtime and had a few chances to take the lead, they never could quite get on top. Their biggest lead of the game was 47-44 after a 3-pointer by Moharram with five minutes to play in the third quarter. Two free throws and 3-pointer by McMillian put Brea on top and the Wildcats never trailed again. Free throw shooting was certainly one of the reasons. The Royals hit on 13-of-23 attempts while Brea was 14-for-17.

Brook Billings, the Royals' 6'-5" pugilistic center, went 7-for-7 from the field for 20 points and grabbed 11 rebounds - nine of them in the second half. Oden had 16 points, six steals and five assists, and also drew the difficult assignment of guarding McMillian. The junior guard tandem of Art Gutierrez and Moharram combined for 14 points, five steals and five assists. Final scoring for Brea Olinda was Dodd with 11, McMillan 24, Kalevich 9, Webster 10, Carlson 18, Mason 8, and Hefferly 2. For San Marcos, the scoring was Moharram 8, Gutierrez 6, Arndt 4, Billings 20, Oden 16, McOwen 24, Nance 0. Brea Olinda hit 8 three pointers and McMillan had four of them , Kalevich 3, and Dodd 1. San Marcos hit only three threes: Moharram 2, and McOwen 1.

Oh, and so as not to disappoint everyone, Brook Billings managed to get his last technical foul of the year. We're not sure what he did, but he went out in style. At least he didn't punch anyone this time below the belt.