SoCalHoops CIF State Tournament News

CIF State Southern Regional:
Boys' Previews For Tonight--(Mar. 7,  2000)

These won't be extensive, because we don't have a lot of time (in fact we ran out of time and couldn't get the D-IV and D-V previews finished in time, so we don't have complete rosters), so we'll put up some bare-bones info which will help guide you if you go to see a game, and perhaps will help you in your decision about which games to attend tonight.  Of course, that's somewhat a function of geography, but there are some excellent games taking place in the Fresno area, in the LA region, and down in San Diego tonight. Here's what we know:

Division II

Orange Glen (16-15) @ Dominguez (33-2)

Orange Glen got to the State tournament by beating Hoover 57-48, Montgomery 62-46, Oceanside 62-56 and ultimately losing to Serra in the finals, 59-68.  Orange Glen comes in having played and lost to Bishop O'Dowd, Lincoln Academy, Southwest, Murrieta Valley, Banning, and several others outside of league and with a 6-6 overall record in league, having beaten Valley Center, Escondido, and Ramona among others in league.  Orange Glen was the winner of the section title in 1999.   Dominguez comes into the game as the No. 1 ranked team in the country, and they'll probably leave the game that way as well.

Brea Olinda (26-9) @ San Diego Serra (25-4)

Brea comes into the tournament unseeded, having lost in the finals of the Southern Section tournament to Dominguez, the No. 1 seed in the Division in the State Tournament.  The Cats will face No. 4 seed Serra which just won the San Diego Section title; in the Section tournament, Serra beat Point Loma 41-39, Ramona 74-61 and Orange Glen 68-59.  They've beaten Mira Mesa with Stanford-signee Teyo Johnson and Amon Gordon twice this season, and finished in their league with a 10-2 record, losing only to Morse 62-65, and San Diego HS 54-56.  Their only non-league pre-season losses were to San Diego HS (in tournament play) Charter Valley, also in tournament play.     Players to watch for on Brea will be Ryan Moore and Ryan Wilber, as well as guard Chase Ulicny;  Srra features the Profits, James and Julius.

Ocean View (31-3) @ Baskersfield Foothill (21-12)

Bakersfield Foothill comes into the tournament unseeded, but with a No. 3 travel priority; Ocean View is the No. 3 seed, but has the No. 8 travel priority, which explains why Bakersfield gets the home game.  Ocean View lost to Artesia in the II-A Southern Section final this past Saturday at the Pond;  Foothill won the Central Section title, beating Bakersfield East last Thursday night 52-50. Foothill won the 1988 State D-II tiele and last won a Section title in 90-91.  Ocean View is led by Marques Crane, Torin Beeler,  Ryan Westbrook and Jeremiah Bell.

Bakersfield East (18-14) @ Artesia (31-2)

Artesia comes into the tournament as the No. 2 seed, ranked as one of the top teams in the country, and if the brackets work out as they're designed to do, we may yet get to see a third rematch this season of the current No. 1 team Dominguez, and the former No. 1 team, Artesia.  Artesia is led by Jack Martinez and Amaury Fernandez down low and inside, and by a collection of some of the best guards anywhere:  Andre Hazel (Nevada-signee), Ryan Reyes, Franklin Matos, Jon Steffanson, and on and on.  Bakersfield East is the Central Section D-II runner-up and they are unseeded. East had a good preseason, but then faltered a bit in league, going 5-3 on the season and losing to Bakersfield, Stockdale and Foothill prior to the Section tournament.

Division III

St. Augustine (20-11) @ Bishop Montgomery (26-5)

Bishop Montgomery won the Southern Section III-AA title with a solid win over Compton Centennial on Friday night at LMU, and they're the No. 1 seed, led by the Craven twins, two of the most talented players anywhere at the high school level. St. Augustine comes into the tournament unseeded, and with the No. 8 travel priority, which explains the reason they're playing at Bishop Montgomery tonight. St. Augustine played some tough teams in the early preseason, losing to Crenshaw and to Oakland Fremont, Torry Pines, and Simi Valley at the Nike Holiday Classic at Torrey Pines.   In league, they lost to USDHS once, beat them once, and ultimately lost to the Dons in the Section finals last Friday, 49-64.  Floyd North is their most well known player and he's definitely a D-I prospect. Should be another exciting, fast paced game.  

Selma 25-4 @ Compton Centennial 22-12

Compton was the runner up in the Southern Section D-III tournament and they feature Ellis Myles, who is currently being recruited by UConn, USC and a host of other schools.  Selma finished second in the Divison III section tournament in Central Section, losing to Washington Union 55-71, and comes in unseeded with a No. 6 travel priority.

Morningside 23-10 @ Fresno Washington Union (20-10)

Morningside was a semifinalist in the newly combined Southern Section Division III-AA, and as a result, they've had the whole of last week off to think about and get ready for this game.  Still, they're playing a newly revitalized Washington Union, a team which was seemingly in disarray over the preseason and during the first part of league, which led to the resignation of their first year coach, Larry Trigueiro, who was replaced by Peter Sharkey.  Sharkey seems to have restored order and also seems to have restored DeShawn Stevenson's shooting touch.   In last Thursday's final game, Deshawn Stevenson had 25 points and Deshawn Anderson had 31.  Washington Union is no longer nationally ranked, but they are still one of the teams in SoCal to be feared by opponents, especially in this division, and they are the defending State Champs.

Corona del Mar  (24-8) @ University of San Diego High School (26-6)

Corona del Mar is another unseeded team, a semifinalist from Southern Section D-III-AA which also had the entire week off after losing in the semi's to Compton Centennial.  USDHS comes into the tournament as the No. 2 seed with two Waltons down on the blocks and the home court advantage in this game. Corona Del Mar has Kevin Hansen and Alec Hanson (not related) as two of the leading scorers; Uni has the two big guys, Chris Ganan at the point and Carlos Quentin at the wing.

We don't have time for rosters for the remaining two divisions, at least not right now (we'll come back later and fill these in) but for now here are some notes:

Division IV

Orange Lutheran (26-7)@ San Diego Horizon (23-6)

Orange Lutheran finished as the runnerup to Crossroads in the Division IV-A finals on Saturday, and they feature one of the best shooters in the Southern Section, Jason Whieldon (who's also a heck of a football player from what we read);  Horizon won the San Diego Section title on Friday with a win over Lincoln, 66-63, and they feature Jarrha Bolden, and Ron Coleman.  Should be an interesting matchup.

St. Bernard (25-7) @ Corcoran (26-5)

St. Bernard finished as the runner up to Serra in Division IV-AA, and they are coached by Bob Alaniz, and feature Geoffrey Hooker, Kellen Haynie, and a whole slew of other guards with not a player taller than 6'-4".  Corcoran's tallest player is Jarrett Santos and the rest of the team averages about 6'-2" or 6'-3".   This should be a fast paced game and we'd expect a fairly close score.

Lindsay (26-6) @ Crossroads (24-9)

Lindsay lost in the Central Section finals to Corcoran in a very low scoring game, 37-34, and they should matchup well with Crossroads with two 6'-7" players on the roster.  Crossroads won the Southern Section D-IV-A title and they're led by Isaiah Fox (6'-9" Jr. C/F) and Felipe Williams (6'-4" Sr. G/F).

Lincoln Academy (23-6) v. Gardena Serra (22-13)

Lincoln comes in as the San Diego Section runner up to Horizon, and they feature several excellent players, including Nate Carter and Cedrick Palmer.  Serra, which won it's second consecutive Southern Section title and is looking for its second consecutive State title, is led by Aerick Sanders and Doyle Cole.

Division V

Immanual (17-11)  v. Price (31-1)@ Inglewood HS

Price is coached by Michael Lynch, and the top players are Chris Alexander, Jermaine Jamison, Mychal Lynch, and Othell Johnson; Price comes in as the Southern Section champion in Divison V-A; Immanual comes in with a 17-11 record, and as the Central Section D-V runner up to Laton.

Calvary Chapel Downey (27-6) v. Laton (25-3)

Calvary Chapel is led by Tim Drisdom and the Grizzlies finished second to St. Anthony's in the Division V-AA Southern Section finals on Friday in a very close game.   Laton won the Central Section title on Thursday of last week, beating Immanuel 78-56, and they are led by Melvin Medeiros.

Christian (28-4) @ St. Anthony (24-8)

Christian had been ranked by Cal-Hi Sports as the top team in the State in Division V for most of the season, but lost in a close game 56-51 on Friday at Cox Arena to La Jolla Country Day in the San Diego Section Division V title game.  Christian features a number of top players including Jared Bell, Chris Carter, Tim Brown, Brent Dongell, Wai John Wai, Jorege Cerna, Ben Wohfeil, Michael Jackson, Matt Moyer, Clint Gerlek, Justin Vanderwerff, Ryan Johnston, John Freiberg and Jake Wohlfeil.   St. Anthony's comes in unseeded but the Division V-AA Southern Section Champs, and they are led by the trio of point guard Pearson Smith, combo guard Jared Lloyd, their top scorer all season, and center Arlondo Holder.

Heritage Christian (26-5) @ La Jolla Country Day (29-4)

Heritage Christian is the Division V-A runner up and the Patriots are led by Matt Winter, who hit for 21 points in the loss on Friday night to Price, Jason Greir, and Ryan Meyer.   La Jolla Country Day comes into the tournament as the No. 2 seed and the San Diego Section V Champion, having beaten Christian on Friday at Cox Arena.  LJCD features Tyler Grooms, Jeremy Hofman, Mike Nerhus, Rashawn Allen, Cesar Don Juan, Matt  Luckham, Drew Allamby, Chris Fermanian, Chris Robinson, Luke Bylund, and Casey McCracken, and they are coached by Paul Wilson. 

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