III-A 221

SoCal High School & Prep Report

Southern Section Playoffs: All The Division
III-A Scores & Highlights--(February 21, 1998)

Who would have thought that it would be tough to get a score out of an Inglewood school. The details of Morningside's victory over Northview in the only "upset" in the bracket remain a mystery. And this Division is memorable, because defending State Champion and last year's Division III-A CIF Champion Harvard-Westlake was defeated in the first round, marking the first defeat in any post-season for the Wolverines in more than three years.

So here's what happened last night in III-A Southern Section Playoff action. The #'s refer only to a teams seeding within it's own Regional Bracket within the Division. Overall in the Division III-A bracket, the No. 1 Seed is Chaminade; No. 2 Bishop Montgomery; No. 3. San Dimas; and No. 4 Santa Paula, and all of the top seeds won their games, except Morningside which beat Northview, and # 3 Estancia which beat #2 La Puente Bassett in a Region III game. Here's a look, region by region, at each game in order according to the bracketing:

Division III-A

Region I

Game 1: #1 Chaminade 79, # 4 Blair 39

Chaminade High needed very little effort to knock off Pasadena Blair in a first-round game of the Southern Section Division III-A playoffs Friday night. Blair, shooting a dismal 18% from the field, was its own worst enemy against the top-seeded Eagles, who received 34 points from their bench. All 15 Chaminade players scored and the Eagles rolled over Blair, 79-39, at Chaminade High. The Eagles will play Compton Centennial in a quarterfinal Tuesday at a neutral site to be determined by coin flip. It wasn't the best effort put on by The Times' top-ranked team, but it was a respectable-looking victory for a squad that has won 21 consecutive games. The Chaminade starters, looking average at times in the first half against a much smaller Blair squad, jumped to a 13-0 lead while Blair missed its first 11 shots and turned the ball over six times. Aaron Weaver gave Blair (10-15) its first basket with two minutes remaining in the first quarter and by then it was 15-3. Blair made only one of 13 shots in the first quarter and four misses never touched the rim or backboard.

Chaminade (24-1) was not without its own problems, turning the ball over five times in the first quarter and allowing Blair--with just one starter 6-foot or taller--12 rebounds in the first half. Young responded by yanking his starters in favor of his bench. All but two players had playing time in the first half. Twelve of Chaminade's 20 second-quarter points came from the reserves and it was all but over as the Eagles claimed a 42-17 halftime lead. Paced by Scott Long's 10 points in the third quarter, Chaminade extended its lead to 33 points on a putback by Long and later to 36
points on a short jumper by J.J. Todd, a reserve who finished with six rebounds. The Eagles claimed a 40-point lead, 67-27, on a three-point buzzer-beater by Nick Lawson at the end of the third quarter. Long, who was challenged at halftime by Young to step up his game, finished with 14 points and left with 3:23 left in the third quarter. Chaminade forced 28 turnovers and outrebounded Blair, 44-23.

Game 2: # 2 Centennial 86, # 3 Ganesha 54

Senior guard Arturo Jones scored a game-high 20 points and the Apaches (19-8) opened the contest with a 19-6 run on their way to a first-round win over the visiting Giants (13-14). Juniors Marquis Poole and Steven Sims added 16 and 15 points, respectively, for Centennial, which will battle top-seed Chaminade (24-1) in the quarterfinals Tuesday at a site to be determined. Senior Brian Johnson tossed in 10 of his 12 points in the second quarter for the Apaches.

Region II

Game 1: #1 Bishop Montgomery 80, # 4 St. Francis 58

Tony Booker had 26 points for host Bishop Montgomery (20-6). Richard Fields and Derek La Velle each scored 18 points for St. Francis (11-13).

Game 2: #3 Morningside 57, #2 Northview 50

No details were available on this game. We're still looking though.

Region III

Game 1: #1 San Dimas 73, #4 San Jacinto 54

Some high school basketball players panic when their team gets off to a slow start. The ones at San Dimas just say, "Here we go again." San Dimas opened the CIF Division 3A playoffs in typical fashion but shrugged off a poor first quarter and went on to blitz San Jacinto, 73-54, Friday night at San Dimas. The Saints (23-4) scored just two points in the first 4:15 but a glimpse at the scoreboard kept them from getting discouraged: San Dimas 2, San Jacinto 2. The San Dimas defense kept the Tigers from taking advantage of the poor beginning, and when Joe Bolander and D.J. Hackett heated up, the Saints were on their way. Bolander and Hackett combined for 19 of the Saints' 24 second-quarter points to help stake San Dimas to a 35-19 halftime advantage. The pair kept it up in the second half, Bolander winding up with a game-high 28 points and Hackett adding 22. The Saints play Costa Mesa Estancia, a 74-60 winner over La Puente Bassett, in Tuesday's quarterfinals. Estancia will host the game at a site to be determined. A 30-10 run from early in the second quarter to early in the third gave San Dimas a 41-21 edge. The Tigers (18-8) never got closer than 14 points the rest of the way, try as they might: San Jacinto fired up 37 3-pointers, making just nine. Senior guard Pete Murrieta led the Tigers with 25 points while Albert Aguilar added 14 points and 13 rebounds. Josh Smith paced the Saints with 12 rebounds while Bolander had nine. A drive by Murrieta gave the Tigers their only lead, 2-0. San Dimas went on to take an 11-4 lead but San Jacinto scored seven unanswered points to forge a tie. The Saints outscored the Tigers, 24-8, the remainder of the second quarter.

Game 2: # 3 Estancia 74, # 2 La Puente Bassett 60

James Dawkings scored a game-high 27 points and Brett Valbuena added 20 for visiting Estancia. The Eagles (18-9) will face San Dimas in the second round. Bassett finishes out the year at 16-8 overall.

Region IV

Game 1: # 1 Santa Paula 60, #4 Nordhoff 48

Senior guards Danny Herrera and Joey Riccio combined for 40 points to lead the No. 1-seeded Santa Paula High boys' basketball team to a 60-48 victory over Nordhoff in a Southern Section Division III-A first-round playoff game Friday night at Santa Paula. Herrera scored 22 points and made five of six from three-point range. Riccio, a senior transfer from Thousand Oaks, added 18 points. Riccio's three-pointer at the buzzer to end the first quarter and a 7-2 run to begin the second quarter gave Santa Paula (21-5) a 26-17 lead with six minutes to play in the first half. Santa Paula led, 33-26, at halftime and Herrera took over in the third quarter, scoring all of his team's 12 points and making three three-point baskets. Nordhoff (10-13) was led by 7-foot center Chris Christoffersen, who had 21 points, 14 rebounds and three blocked shots. Andy Flores added 15 points for the Rangers. Mike Kolbeck made a basket with 13 seconds to play in the first quarter to provide Santa Paula with its first lead, 16-15, and the Cardinals never trailed again. Kolbeck, a 6-2 junior who scored eight points, also had the daunting task of covering the towering Christoffersen. It marked the third time this season that the Frontier League champion Cardinals defeated Nordhoff. Santa Paula won its first outright league title in 26 years. Santa Paula will play Cabrillo in a second-round game on Tuesday.

Game 2: #2 Cabrillo 86, #3 Harvard-Westlake 79

The visiting Wolverines lost a postseason game for the first time in three seasons. Harvard-Westlake (19-8) had won the last two Division III state championships. Cabrillo improved to 13-12 overall and will advance to play Santa Paula in the second round. Russell Lakey scored 22 points to cap his fine season, while Alex Holmes also had 22 poinjts. Alex Minn had 15, John Karavas scored 8, Pat Biggerstaff 7, John Terzian 3, and Eric Geffner 2 for the Wolverines. For Cabrillo, Jay Richardson had 19, Jeremy Belton 17, Steve Leinger 16, Jason Davis 15, Travis James 13, Jermain Westly 2, and Taylor 6. Interestingly, Harvard-Westlake led at the end of the first quarter 21-14, but gave back one point to lead by six at the half, 43-37. Cabrillo gained back another two, and closed to within 4 at the end of the third quarter, as H-W still led 66-62. But the Wolverines just went cold in the fourth quarter as Cabrillo outscored them 26-13.