socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops HS Playoff News

CIF-SS II-AA: MD, SJB, Inglewood
& Pasadena All Win--(Feb. 23, 2002)

Two in and two out, and a league game coming up?  Who would have expected this....Two seeds won last night, No. 1 Mater Dei and No. 2 Pasadena and the other two seeds are gone, as Villa Park and Corona Centennial lost. Here are the scores from last night: 

No. 1 Mater Dei 74, Woodbridge 58
St. John Bosco 80, No. 4 Corona Centennial 75
Inglewood 63, No. 3 Villa Park 46
No. 2 Pasadena 57, Claremont 54

The semifinals will see Mater Dei play league rival St. John Bosco, which entered as a wild-card entry after finishing third in Serra league, while Inglewood will play Pasadena in the other contest.  Both games will be on Tuesday, February 26, 2002, at 7:30 p.m.   Mater Dei v. SJB will be played at Cypress College, and Inglewood v. Pasadena will be at Occidental College. 

We'll post the bracket up separately as well as a preview of the semifinals. Here are the details from last night's games:


Division II-AA
Quarterfinals

No. 1 Mater Dei 74, Woodbridge 58 -- Mater Dei (25-4) was led by senior forward Mike Strawberry who scored 19 points and by junior guard Wesley Washington who finished with 16  in the win over Woodbridge (19-9) in a quarterfinal game played at Northwood HS.  Mater Dei led by one at the end of the first quarter, but then outscored Woodbridge 23-5 in the second quarter, and took a 40-21 lead into the locker room at the half.   Woodbridge was led by sophomore David Burgess (6'-10" So. F) who finished with 14 points.

St. John Bosco 80, No. 4 Corona Centennial 75 --St. John Bosco (24-6) was led by senior guard Giovanni St. Amant who finished with 28 points and 15 rebounds.   Teammate Robert Reynaga finished with 21 points, seven assists and four steals in the win over No. 4 seed visiting Corona Centennial (24-4) which was led by senior guard J.R. Reese who finished with a game high 36 points.  St. John Bosco will meet league rival Mater Dei in the semifinals.  It will be the first semifinal appearance for St. John Bosco since they were led by St. Amant's cousin, Schea Cotton in 1994.  Reynaga and Donald Quiroz hit seven three pointers in the first half between them and St. John Bosco led 42-35 at the half.  Quiroz finished with 17 points.  Corona Centennial managed to get as close as 79-73 with 17 seconds to play but couldn't close the gap in time.

Inglewood 63, No. 3 Villa Park 46 --Unseeded Inglewood (24-5), perhaps the most talented unseeded team in the playoffs, with a potential NBA prospect in D'Angelo Collins (6'-9" Sr. F), struggled to find a rhythm early, but woke up in the third quarter just in time to take the game from Villa Park and move on to the semifinals on Tuesday, where they will play Pasadena at an alternate site. With the game tied at 24, the Sentinels went on an 8-3 run, behind perimeter shooting of Ray Reed and Ron Ligon. After a 3-pointer by Villa Park guard Kyle Hogan, Reed scored five of Inglewood's next seven points for a 39-34 lead. Inglewood led 46-44 when Chris Holloway's basket with 4:50 left began a  decisive run. Ray Reed followed with a 3-point basket 30 seconds later, his fourth of the game. Brice Prather scored what proved to be Villa Park’s final points with 2:46 remaining, cutting the deficit to 51-46. D'Angelo Collins and Holloway ended the Spartans' hopes of a comeback by combining to score the next 10 points. Collins finished with 21 points and Reed had 20 (16 in the second half), while Holloway finished with 15.  

No. 2 Pasadena 57, Claremont 54--No. 2 Pasadena (25-4) led in the quarterfinal game throughout and pulled away to the win over host Claremont (22-7) behind Duwan Rice's 20 point performance. Dino Wilburn had 15 points and 8 rebounds, while Anthony Phillips also had 15 and six rebounds, while McKensie Clark had 11.  Pasadena will advance to the semifinals on Tuesday and will face Inglewood, which beat No. 3 seed Villa Park.  Pasadena jumped out to a 12-4 lead, and Claremont (22-7) got to within two points twice midway through the second quarter. The Bulldogs ended the first half on a 9-1 run for a 29-19 halftime lead.  The Wolfpack missed 12 of their first 15 free throws and didn't make two in a row until they were behind by 15 points in the fourth quarter.  Pasadena led by as many as 17 points in the fourth quarter and never let Claremont cut the lead to single digits, getting only as close as 10 with under a minute to play. Claremont was led by Shaddean Aaron who finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds, and by Cameron Munoz who finished with 20, including 17 in the second half. Wilburn was held scoreless through the first half and did not manage a field goal until he hit a 3-pointer with 3:02 to play in the third quarter.  Wilburn managed to find his rhythm in the second half, hitting three 3-pointers. His final three-pointer gave Pasadena a 13-point lead, 46-33.

socalogomini1.gif (1928 bytes)
 
©Copyright SoCalHoops 1997-2002
Questions? Comments? Need Information?
Contact: jegesq@SoCalHoops.com