SoCalHoops Recruiting News

CIF State D-II Boys' Final Preview: Rosters,
Records & Predictions--(Mar. 14, 2001)

Division II State Final
Compton Dominguez vs. Mountain View St. Francis
Friday, March 16, 2001 @ 8:00 p.m.
Arco Arena, Sacramento

Here's the "official" preview article from the State CIF's own official website (this can also be found at this link):

Division II Boys --- Dominguez, Compton (30-4) vs. St. Francis, Mountain View (22-9)
Dominguez has won four of the last state championships in Division II play, including two in a row twice (1996-97 and 1999-2000). The Dons only State [Championship] loss came in 1995 at the hands of St. Francis. The bad news for Dominguez is that 7-1 center Tyson Chandler may not be able to play after injuring his ankle. Without Chandler the Dons managed to get past Redondo Union, 62-57, in the southern regional finals. Bobby Jones had 19 points in that game, while Darius Sanders added 11. Dominguez looks to become the first boys' team to win three straight titles. St. Francis makes its second trip to the state finals, the first being an upset over Dominguez (73-65) in 1995. The Lancers have had their struggles going 12-9 at one point before catching fire. In the regional finals, St. Francis needed an overtime period to beat Hayward, 72-63. This after an overtime win in the semis over Rocklin. In the Hayward game, David Chiotti had 21 points and 15 rebounds and Hakeem Gilliard had 18 points.

By now everyone has read or heard about Tyson's potentially season-ending ankle injury.  Our sources tell us that Tyson will be available to play, but then his physical condition will be determined at game time, and not any sooner than that.  His ankle injury was pretty severe, but with a week's rest and wearing a splint, it may not keep him out of the game.  This Dominguez team is one that everyone and anyone thought wasn't deep enough to win without Tyson, that guys like Bobby Jones were only "mid-major" type players, but last Saturday, it was Jones and Keion Kindred along with Darius Sanders who stepped up and managed to pull out the win despite the absence of Chandler.  Still, Dominguez (with or without Chandler) is not as deep as in year's past, and the backcourt is probably the most suspect area of all, and that could spell trouble against a team like St. Francis.

The Lancers have lots of good guards, not that their starters average a lot of points, but they are crafty, smart players.  St. Francis starts Beall, and the Gilliard brothers in the backcourt.  Beall averages just 2.1 ppg and 1.5 rpg, but he's a playmaker;  Jermel Gilliard averages 10.5 ppg, while   Hakeem averages 8.6 ppg and 2.1 rpg.  The real strength for the Lancers though is up front, and while they don't have the height of Chandler (who does?), they've got a lot more bulk up front:  David Chiotti is a 6'-9" Jr. 230 lb power forward who averaged 12.6 ppg through the section finals, and he's joined by Troy Bienemann at 10.3 ppg.  Together these five make up the bulk of the offense.  John Montgomery and Pat Dillingham, averaged 6.8 and 3.4 ppg off the bench, and Danny Ackman is likely to be the 6th man with 8.0 ppg and 5.9 rpg (3rd in rebounding on the team).

St. Francis has played some excellent teams, but they also have most of their losses against top squads:  Two losses to Bellarmine Prep, a loss (but also two wins) against Sacred Heart Prep, a split 1-1 with Riordan (who is in the Division III Championship game) and a split with St. Ignatius.  They lost to Oakland Tech 70-50, lost to Division III Palma 57-50.  Wins include three Reno teams (McQueen, Galena, and Elko), Palo Alto, Cordova, South Lake Tahoe, yerba Buena, Skyline, Moreau, San Ramon Valley, Mitty (twice) and Serra (twice).   St. Francis, which plays in the WCAL (the West Catholic Athletic League) in the Central Coast CIF Section, finished league play with a 7-5 record, certainly not the kind of record that one would anticipate seeing from a potential State Champ. . . .But that's what makes this game interesting.

We're still going to have to pick Dominguez, even if they're not as deep in the backcourt because the combo of Sanders, Kindred, and Jones has been particularly potent lately and they're on a roll. . . maybe to a third consecutive title.  

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