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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Paul Smith's San Diego Report:
San Diego County Results--(February 19, 1998)

We're pleased to welcome a new correspondent to SoCalHoops, Paul Smith, Assistant Varsity Coach at Helix High in the Grossmont South League in San Diego County. Paul has graciously offered (and we've accepted) to be, together with Pat McKinney, one of our correspondents in San Diego. No more "information blackouts" or media eclipses from down near the border. After all, San Diego covers roughly one third of the territory in SoCal, and we're trying to bring as much of the region together. Paul also maintains the Helix High Varsity Basketball site, and we'd urge you to visit there to learn more about the Helix Highlanders, currently ranked 6th by the San Diego Sportswriters (hey where were the "sportswriters" when we needed them during the season?--can't they convince the SD Union-Trib to put prep stuff up on their website? Can't the paper's distributors get the daily editions to LA?--ah, but we digress), or 9th by the Union Trib, and with a 22-4 overall and 7-1 league record, they look formidable. They are this year's league champions, and feature a stellar point guard in Ron Johnson (more about him later).

So here's Paul's first crack at reporting: Yesterday's San Diego County scores and results, and a brief San Diego County boys' playoff preview. In reverse order:

San Diego Division 1 Playoff Seedings Preview

By Paul Smith
Exclusive to SoCalHoops

The Division I playoff race in San Diego is shaping up to be a good one as league play winds down this week. The North County will again have a strong presence in the playoffs, led as usual by Poway, Rancho Buena Vista (RBV), and Rancho Bernardo. Other strong championship contenders from around the county include Helix, Grossmont, Chula Vista, and Morse.

The top four seeds in the county will get the first two playoff games at home, and regardless of the outcome of the rest of the week it appears these four seeds are locked up. Helix has wrapped up the Grossmont South championship and have finished out their regular season with a 22-4 record, the second best Division I record in the county. The other three seeds appear to belong to Poway, RBV, and Rancho Bernardo, all from the highly competitive Palomar League.

In the 5-8 positions, three teams appear to be set with Chula Vista, Grossmont, and Morse leading the way. Chula Vista has wrapped up another Metro championship and Grossmont has wrapped up the Grossmont North championship. It does not appear that Morse will win their league, but a strong overall record puts this talented team into the championship contenders. El Camino will probably garner the other position in this group.

The 9-14 positions are much less clear than the top half of the bracket. San Pasqual, Scripps Ranch, and La Costa Canyon are the best teams that will not make it into the upper half. They will probably garner the 9th, 10th, and 11th positions. Vista, Southwest, and Granite Hills look to be in the 12-14 slot.

There are several teams battling for the 15-18 slot, which will playoff on Monday for the 15th and 16th seed. San Marcos, Mira Mesa, Valhalla, and Mt. Miguel appear to be the leading contenders for these positions. Fallbrook and West Hills also have a shot, but could very well be sitting at home when the playoffs start on Monday night.

The coaches and league representatives from around the county will be sitting down together on Saturday to hash out the seedings, and regardless of how things come out the Division I playoffs in San Diego should be highly competitive and dramatic this year. Look for our further reports as the playoffs take shape.

And in keeping with playoff seedings and results, here's what happened yesterday around the county in boys' basketball:

San Diego County Results February 18th, 1998

Avocado League

Torrey Pines 80, Escondido 40 (B. Perry 14)
Oceanside 68, La Costa Canyon 64 (Austin 25)
El Camino 72, Carlsbad 61 (McGill 20)

Citrus League

Julian 67, Lutheran 66 (Holder 17)
Borrego 77, Midway 53 (McLaughlin 21)

Desert League

Holtville 79, Vincent Mem. 47 (Flores 24)

Eastern League

Mira Mesa 60, Kearny 51 (Tolver 18)
Serra 70, San Diego 53 (Cooper 21)
Morse 74, Patrick Henry 60 (Robinson 30)

Harbor League

Christian 67, Madison 58 (Todd Brown 24)
Clairemont 63, Hoover 50 (Qadiri 19)
Marian 67, Crawford 55 (Oloya 23)

Metro Conference

Chula Vista 65, Hilltop 50 (Hardwick 32)
Eastlake 72, Southwest 68 (Canty 15)
Sweetwater 71, Castle Park 42 (Pantoja 21)

Non-League

Point Loma 62, Scripps Ranch 52 (Barnes, Bailey, Lang 11)

Palomar League

Vista 79, Orange Glen 68 (Mercado 30)
RB 82, Mt. Carmel 57 (Rivera 29)
Poway 79, San Marcos 56 (Mann 29)
RBV 68, Fallbrook 54 (Abrams 36)

Western League

USDHS 82, University City 46 (L. Walton 22)
St. Augustine 63, Mission Bay 48 (Porter 25)
Lincoln 80, La Jolla 57 (Watts 22)