SoCalHoops High School News

San Diego Section Boys'
Playoff Bracket & Finals Recaps--(Mar. 5, 2001)

The San Diego Section playoffs were concluded on Saturday, March 4, in a flurry of activity at Cox Arena. We haven't been as diligent at updating the San Diego Brackets as we have with the Southern Section updates, but here's our final take on the San Diego Section playoffs, winners and losers, complete brackets with results from all the rounds.

Here are the overall results:

Division I: Torrey Pines 55, San Diego HS 38 
Division II: Eastlake 73, Ramona 67 
Division III:St. Augustine 80, Valley Center 70 
Division IV: Bishop's 64, Lincoln Academy 45 
Division V: Santa Fe Christian 69, Marian Catholic 49 

Division I:

Champion--Torrey Pines HS
Runner-Up--San Diego HS

Torrey Pines 55, San Diego HS 38-- In front of a crowd of 7,229, Torrey Pines won it's 20th straight game by defeating San Diego HS in the San Diego Section D-I final.  Torrey Pines, the No. 1 seed in the bracket at 30-3, will advance to the State Playoffs and ensures itself of a home game in the first round.   San Diego finishes the season at 23-7, and because of a CIF procedure that permits the LA City Section to enter two teams into the D-I State Tournament bracket, San Diego and Central CIF sections only get one entrant, the section champion, unlike the other four enrollment-divisions which take both the winners and runners up (LA City Section only competes in D-I).   The title was the 5th for Torrey Pince, it's first since 1996. Torrey Pines, ranked No. 1 in defense among Division I teams in San Diego, managed to limit San Diego to just six points in the first quarter, and held a 27-22 lead at the half. In the opening moments of the third quarter, San Diego closed to within a point, 28-27 on a three-pointer by Bodeke Taylor, but it was as close as they got.  In the remainder of the third, Torrey Pines went on a 13-0 run and led 43-30 at the end of three. The Cavers finished 13-of-48 from the field, including 3-of-15 from three-point range.   San Diego was led by Randy Bland with 17 points. Falcons guard Jordan Feramisco finished with a game-high 21 points.

Division II: 
Section Champion--Eastlake
Runner-Up--Ramona

 Eastlake 73, Ramona 67-- Eastlake picked up it's first ever CIF title, and won it's 22nd game of the last 23 behind Dominic Crawley's 26 points as the Titans defeated Ramona 73-67 to win the CIF-San Diego Section Division II championship game at Cox Arena.  Top-seeded Eastlake (26-3) will move on to the State tournament opening round on Tuesday, as will Ramona, which is likely to draw No. 1 projected seed Dominguez in the first round.   In the second quarter, Eastlake outscored Ramona 21-10 and the third-seeded Bulldogs (21-10) never got closer than 4 points in the second half.  In the third quarter Eastlake led by as many as 15 points, but in the fourth, Ramona managed to cut the lead to 71-67 behind some excellent production from Ramona Richard Holmes who finished with 31 points, 26 in the second half, and Michael Rivera who had 22.  The two combined to hit three three-point field goals in the final minute as the Bulldogs closed to 71-67, but Crawley made two free throws with 7.3 seconds to play to put the game out of reach. Eastlake was also led by Wade Curry who finished with 13 points and 12 boards, and Keith Spencer who finished with 10 p;oints and 9 rebounds. Eastlake outrebounded Ramona 37-28.

 Division III:

Champion--St. Augustine
Runner Up--Valley Center

St. Augustine 80, Valley Center 70-- The Saints (21-6) finally won their first CIF-San Diego Section Division III title since 1993, after losing the last four years to USDHS, by holding off Valley Center 80-70. Floyd North, an Oregon State signee led all scorers with 25 points, 15 in the first half for St. Augustine. Valley Center was led by Mike who finished wsith 17, Ryan Ness with 15, Curtis Woods 14, Daniel Stedman with 11 and Josh Delozier with 10.  Eric Osmundson finished with 24 points, for St. Augusine, nine in the fourth quarter.  Mike Mauger had 15 points for the Saints and junior point guard Rommel Marentez finished with six points, four assists, and four steals. 

Division IV:

Champion--La Jolla Bishop's School
Runner Up-- Lincoln Academy

La Jolla Bishop's 64,  Lincoln Academy 45-- Not many people expected the final score to be as lopsided, but then not every team can continue to come off as many emotionally-charged highs every time in the way Lincoln has managed to do this season, and the close ones finally caught up with the Hornets as Bishop's won the Division IV title over Lincoln, and managed to hold Shaun Davis, Lincoln's star point guard to "just" 18 points.  Like Keilon Fortune in Division V-AA in the Southern Section, Davis had been averaging a much higher number, and did not have a good shooting outing in the finals, hitting just 6-20 from the field.   The Hornets (21-8) came into the game as the hottest team in San Diego but couldn't hit from the field, and the normally prolific Lincoln team managed to hit only 1-17 from three-point range.   For Bishop's, Phil Smith scored 25 points, 10 above his previous high and more than 17 over his season average.  It was the second lowest scoring total for the Hornets this season. Bishop's Ryan Read finished with 11 points and Jaris Cole (who in the previous game hit an 85-foot shot at the buzzer to beat Horizon and to advance Bishop's into the final game) finished with 10 on Saturday.   As section champs, the Knights (26-4) will play at home, while Lincoln will travel to Crespi for the first round game

Division V: 

Champion--Santa Fe Christian
Runner-Up-- Marian Catholic

Santa Fe Christian 69, Marian Catholic 49-- Santa Fe Christian (25-3) picked up it's 10th straight win by beating Marian Catholic, the No. 11 seed.  Marian drops to just 9-20, and will get the privilege of playing Calvary Chapel Downey in the first round of the State Southern Regionals, while Santa Fe will host Kilpatrick and Keilon Fortune.  Santa Fe has only played one Southern Section team this season previously, and one of its three losses came to Southern Section No. 4 seed Buckley at the Santa Maria Tournament.  But on Saturday, at Cox Arena, the Eagles, who are coached by former El Cajon Christian boys' coach Randy Wright,  got a game-high 20 points from senior forward Mark Carlson,  and picked up their first Division V  title.  Santa Fe Christian outrebounded the Crusaders 44-29,   and had three players score in double figures:  Carlson with 20, Chase McBride with 17 and Craig Buell, who has a partial volleyball scholarship to Stanford for next year, finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds.  Marian Catholic was led by sophomores Jacquez Lindsey who finished with 14 and Mickey Pimentel with 11.

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