wildcard preview I-A boys

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SoCalHoops High School News

CIF-SS Playoff Boys' Wild Card Games:
Div. I-A Matchups--(Feb. 12, 2002)

All games are Wednesday, February 13, at 7:30 unless otherwise noted. Here's what to look for:

Game A--Walnut @ Marina

Walnut enters the game as an at-large from the Baseline League, tied for 4th with an overall record of 11-12. Marina comes in as an at-large from the Sunset League, finishing 5th with an overall record of 14-12.

The lucky winner gets No. 1 seed Mission Viejo on Friday night, at Mission Viejo.

Who to watch for: Walnut--look for Darnell Gilbert (5'-11" Jr. PG), YHuji Kimura (5'-10' Jr. G) and Ricky Fisher 6'-0" So. G as the starting backcourt for the Mustangs, and Dreshawn Vance (6'-7" Jr. C) and Daniel Jones (6'-5" Sr. C) as the two starters in the frontcourt. Walnut has a pretty deep bench, and they've beaten some good teams, including Bishop Amat, Rowland, Nogales, Damien, Garey, Don Lugo, and lost by one to Ontario. Marina has a young crew featuring a lot of sophs (7 in all) and only three seniors (Seth McMullen, Jon Yokoyama, and Nick Ciaramitaro). Their two biggest players Matt Lee and Michal Booker are both sophs and come in at 6'-5" each. Marina has beaten teams like Anaheim, El Modena, La Serna, Westminster, Garden Grove, Century, Newbury Park, Atascadero, Hungintgton Beach and Fountain Valley, but they've also lost to Los Al (twice), Costa Mesa, Fullerton, Paso Robles, Orange, and Edison.

Game B--El Toro @ Riverside JW North

El Toro is an at-large from the South Coast League, finishing 4th with a record of 16-10. Riverside JW North finished tied for third in the Ivy League, and is not an at-large, with a record of 10-14

The winner gets Rancho Verde, No. 1 from the Sunbelt league out at Rancho Verde.

El Toro stars Jonathan Johnson (6'-2" Fr. G), Darryl Best (6'-2" Fr. G), Patrick Carney (6'-0" Jr. G), Ronnie Pentz (6'-3" Jr. F) and Kevin England (6'-5" Sr. C), the team's tallest player who weighs in at 190, although sometimes they'll go with Will Brown (6'-2" Jr. F). El Toro has beaten Temecula Valley, Los Alamitos, Aliso Niguel, Kennedy, Katella, Torrance, La Quinta (LQ), Ponderosa from Nevada, Servite, Dana Hills, Trabuco Hills, San Clemente, and Santa Ana. Losses have been to Riverside MLK (by only 5 points) Capo Valley, Mision Viejo, Villa Park (by 17) and Upland (by 5) among others.

We're not sure who JW North will start, but their leading scorer is Ron Howard (5'-10" Sr. G) who is averaging 27 ppg, followed by Abundio Esquivel (5'-10" Jr. G) who is averaging 13 ppg. North has beaten Antelope Valley, Temescal Canyon, Beaumont, Riverside Notre Dame, Eidson, Canyon, Valley View, Arlington (twice), Norte Vista and they've lost to Pacific, Cathedral City, Woodbridge, Palm Desert, Redlands, Canyuon Springs (twice), Riverside Poly (twice) and Moreno Valley (twice).

Game C--Temescal Canyon @ Jurupa Valley

Temescal Canyon is an at-large from the Southwestern league, finishing 4th at 14-12 overall. Jurupa Valley is an at-large from the Mountain View league, also a 4th place team with a record of 11-13.

The winner gets No. 4 seed Loyola @ the Cubs den on Friday night.

Key players for Temescal Canyon are ....well, we wish we could read their media form, but someone must have prepared it using disappearing ink. We just can't make out the names, so we won't try....Likewise, we can't make out their schedule. Oh well, if anyone is interested, just do a search of SoCalHoops' Daily Articles for result and their key scoring players. Jurupa Valley at least typed their form so we can read it. They are led by Damian Firas (6'-2" Sr. G), Raul Brito (5'-10" Sr. G), Mike West (6'-0" Sr. G), Ryan Marcroft (6'-7" Sr. C), and Jim Zucca (6'-4 Sr. C). Jurupa has beaten Palmdale, Serrano, Redlands, Arlington, Riverside Poly, Montclair, and Corona (twice).

Game D--Valencia (Valencia) @ Century

Valencia is an at-large from the Foothill League, tied for 3rd with a record of 13-13. Century is also an at-large entry, from the Empire where they finished 5th with a record of 14-12

The winner gets the pleasure of meeting the Thousand Oaks football team on Friday night @ TO.

Who to watch for on Valencia: Mike Moreales (5'-9" Sr. G), Curtis Dunwoody (6'-0" Jr. G) Ryan Zike (6'-5" Sr. F) and Andrew Bruckner (6'-8" Jr. C) make up the bulk of the offense that led the Vikings to wins over teams like Narbonne, El Camino Real, Chaminade, Palmdale, Calabasas, Burbank, Burroughs and Saugus.

Who to watch for on Century: With only three players over 6'-0", and the tallest at 6'-4" (Scott Dredge So. C), Century will run, run and run with a contingent of guards. They've played mostly teams from Orange County--the only non-OC team they played was Mary Star, a loss-- so hosting a team all the way from Valencia will be an experience.

Game E--Kaiser @ West Covina

Kaiser is an at-large from the Sunkist league, tied for 2nd with a record of 13-14. West Covina comes in as an at-large entry from the Sierra in which they finished No. 4, with a record of 15-11 overall.

The winner gets the No. 2 seed Glendora, the Baseline League champs, at the dreaded Glendora gym.

Kaiser has Marcus Malone (5'-10" Jr. G), Gianni Williams (6'-3" Jr. F), Anthony Hill (6'-0" Sr. C), Phil Smith (6'-1" Sr. G) Allen Wade (6'-3" Jr. F) and others who helped the Cats to season wins over Chaffey, La Quinta, Rubidoux, Banning, Garey, Rim of the World, Colton, Ramona, Norte Vista and Bloomington....of course there was that 93-69 loss to King in there too....

West Covina depends on starters Jabir Jinnna (6'-0" Jr. G), Martin Soria (5'-10" Sr. F), Corey Mcintosh (5'-11" Jr. PG), Trevor Silvera (6'-3" Jr. F) and Sam Yeung (5'-11" Sr. G), and they've had wins over teams such as Montclair, Bell Gardens, Los Altos, Arroyo, Arroyo Valley, Rancho Verde, Garey, La Serna, Workman, El Rancho, Nogales, and Damien, but have also suffered losses to quality opponents like Upland, Lakewood, Diamond Bar, Ayala and Rowland.

Game F--Warren @ Edison

Warren is an at-large from the San Gabriel Valley League, which tied for 3rd with an overall record of 14-12. Edison comes in from the Sunset League as the No. 3 entry with an overall record of 16-10. Warren was almost forgotten in the playoffs, and this game was created after the bracket was first announced, with Rowland and Edison as a first round matchup.

The winner will play Rowland, Sierra League champs, at Rowland on Friday night.

Not surprisingly, the CIF overlooked Warren because while they had submitted the league paperwork and other necessary sheets, there was no media sheet, and we therefore don't have the time now to track down their starters or their record. Edison did turn in a sheet, and we therefore know that their likely starters and players to watch for are Jon Nehrig (6'-4" Sr. F/C), Mike Donegan (5'-11" Sr. G), Matt furniss (6'-2" Sr. F) and Beau Roquemore (6'-0" Sr. G) as the likely core group, with the fifth man coming from among a group of all senior and junior guards. Edison has had some close ones get away, playing Woodbridge to a 39-37 loss, and they've also played some east coast preps (Thomas More, Epping, Seneca) closely, with wins over teams like Marina, Buena Park, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Calvary Chapel Santa Ana, Corona Del Mar, Keppel, and Santa Ana Valley.