wildcard preview I-A boys

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SoCalHoops High School News

CIF-SS Playoffs: Boys' Wild Cards In
II-AA, III-A & V-AA--(Feb. 12, 2002)

Here are the rest of the Boys' Wild Card games in the other divisions which will be played tonight. The winners of these games will be inserted at various points in their respective brackets and the full-blown playoffs will commence this Friday night.

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

Division II-AA

Game A--Buena @ St. John Bosco

Buena comes in as an at-large from the Channel League, in which they finished 4th, with an overall season record of 13-13. St. John Bosco is the at-large entry from the Serra League (you know, the same four-team league which only sends two teams, and this year it was Mater Dei and Santa Margarita). SJB finished 3rd, but they could have been considered to be a seeded team had they come out of any other league with a season record of 20-6.

The winner of this game gets to play West Valley on Friday night @ West Valley, the Sunbelt League's No. 2 team with a reocrd of 11-14, so the advantage (other than homecourt) could actually go to the winner of this game to advance in the bracket when its all said and done.

Buena submitted some rather elaborate stat sheets so we know who their leading scorers, rebounders, etc, are, and it looks like they really have a whole contingent of guys they depend on for balanced scoring; leaders are Hylas Smith (6'-2" Jr. G) who averages 13.9 ppg, Chris Sullivan (6'-4" Sr. F/C) who is averaging 11.2, and no one else with an average over 10 ppg. The leading rebounder is Chris Jacobsen (6'-2" Sr. F) who is at 5.8 rpg. With a surprising win over Dos Pueblos in the final game of the regular league season, Buena comes in with some momentum.

St. John Bosco didn't turn in a media sheet, but we know them well, and players to watch out for are guys like Giovanni St. Amant (6'-3" Sr. G) one of the leading scorers in the CIF-SS and one of the more talented guards (and he's also Schea Cotton's cousin, a little known fact); they also feature Eric Lane (6'-1" Jr. G), Kenny Taylor (6'-3" Jr. F), Donald Quiroz (6'-3" Sr. F), Mike Davis (6'-4" So. F) and Kevin Cape (6'-5" Sr. F), and they should be tough to beat, even on the road.

Game B--Westlake @ Burbank

Westlake comes in as an at-large team from the Marmonte League, where they finished 5th, and accumulated a season record of 11-13. Host Burbank is a team which struggled at times this year, but they've got a good overall record of 15-10, and come in as an at-large entry fromt he Foothill league, in which they finished 5th.

The winner will play El Dorado on Friday night @ El Dorado.

Westlake stars Amir Mazarei (5'-8" Jr. G) Jonathan Wiley (6'-4" Jr. F), Rob Daniel (6'-2" Jr. F), David YUoung (6'-0" Sr. G) and Arron Boone (7'-6" So. C) generally. We don't have their season log, but if you're curious about who they've beaten (or lost to) just do a search through the season scoring archives.

Burbank's media info sheet likewise either got misplaced or wasn't submitted, so you're on your own with info about this team...Again, do a "Search SoCalHoops," for Burbank, and then search through the scoring archives for their details, or look at the season HS Previews we've got posted....

Game C--North Torrance @ Cerritos

North Torrance is an at-large entry from the very tough Bay League, and they finished 6th, accumulating a season record of 13-13. Host Cerritos is also at-large, from the Suburban league where they finished 5th, behind Artesia and Mayfair, and they have an overall season record of 12-14.

The winner will play No. 4 seed Corona Centennial @ Corona Centennial on Friday night.

North Torrance has Jun Senesac (6'-1" Sr. F), Alec Gilliland (6'-2" Jr. F), Jesse Espinosa (6'-1" Sr. F), Robert Gustavis (6'-4" Jr. C), Travon Herd (6'-3" Sr. F), Jason Davis (6'-3" Sr. F), and Jarrod Carroll (5'-7" So. G), as well as Kenny Brown (6'-2" Sr. G) and Tony Turner (5'-10" Sr. G). Matt Imai (5'-11" Jr. G), Chris Yemendijian (6'-3" Jr. F) are guys to watch for too.

Cerritos starts Jason Hong (6'-1" Sr. G), Lance Convento (6'-0" Jr. G), Navid Gharavi (5'-9" Jr. G), Dawin Whiten (6'-2" So. G) and Jeff Brown (6'-0" Jr. F), and they don't feature anyone over 6'-3.

In short (no pun intended), this should be a balanced matchup.

Game D--Katella @ Orange

Katella is an at-large from the Empire league, took 6th in league and have an overall season record of 12-13. They will travel to Orange tonight, another at-large, from the Century League, sixth place finishers with an overall season record of 13-13.

The winner advances to play No. 2 seed Pasadena on Friday night at Pasadena. Hoo-Ha.

Katella starts Brett Avery (5'-9" Jr. G), Robert Alvarez (6'-1" Jr. G), Jeff Clement (6'-1" Jr. G), Chris Alva (6'-3" Sr. F) and Elliott Tyson (6'-2" Jr. F), at least that's what their media sheet says. Tallest player is Eric Zinser (6'-6" Sr. C), but he's not listed as a starter.

Orange didn't submit a media sheet, or if they did it got lost in the shuffle, so you'll have to check out the league season HS Preview for roster info and scoring details can be found in our Daily Article archives if you care to look.

Division III-A

Estancia @ Ridgecrest Burrroughs

Estancia is an at-large entry from the Pacific Coast League (finished 4th) and they've got an overall season record of 13-13. They get to travel the farthest of any team on Wednesday, to Ridgecrest, which is waaaayyy out in the Mojave just east of Lone Pine (you can see it on the way to Mammoth up the 395). Ridgecrest Burroughs finished 3rd in the Desert Sky league with an overall season record of 12-9.

The winner gets La Canada on Friday @ La Canada.

Ridgecrest doesn't have Rory O'Neil's size, nor the scoring punch they got from Levi Steinmetz last season, but they do have some size, with Gavin MacGregor (6'-7" Sr. F), Chris Veit (6'-5" Jr. F), Evan Moorehead (6'-5" Jr. F) and Chris Woodson (6'-3" Sr. G). They also start Travis Kincaid (5'-11" Sr. G), Karl Willimas (5'-9" Sr. G), Woodson, Pat Graham (6'-1" Sr. G), and MacGregor. With wins over Desert, Quartz Hill, Highland, St. Paul, Edison, Victor Valley, Barstow, Granite Hills and Serrano, they haven't set the world on fire, but they're not patsies either.

Estancia features Mitch Valdes (5'-6" Sr. G), Jermaine Snell (5'-7" Sr. G), Fernando Maldonado (6'-0" Sr. F), Hugo Escobedo (6'-0" Fr. G), Matt Cachola (5'-10" Jr. G), Zack Novak (6'-1" Jr. G), Tyler Hoffman (6'0-1" So. G), Lewis Bradshaw (6'-3" Jr. C), Scott Sankey (6'-3" So. F), Erik Andersen (5'-10" Jr. F), Carlos Pinto 6'-3" Fr. F) and their leading scorer Joey Lindquist (6'-7" Jr. C).

This should actually be a very good matchup....too bad they can't meet somewhere in the middle, because this is a game we might actually have gone out to see....

Division V-AA

Game A--La Verne Lutheran @ Rio Contiguo***

**Update 10:00 a.m. 12/13/02---This game was canceled by the CIF when it was realized by the CIF that LaVerne Lutheran did not have 11 wins (they were 9-11) and thus were not eligible to petition for entry into the playoffs. Rio Contiguo goes directly into the bracket against Santa Clara on Friday night.

Rio Contiguo didn't submit media info, so other than doing a search through the SoCalHoops articles with scoring and game results for the past season, we can't really tell you much. What we can tell you is that Santa Clara, the No. 3 seed in the tournament is tough at home, and you don't want to be playing them in their house, especially not at playoff time (just ask Verbum Dei about their experience last season). Santa Clara has particularly rabid...er um, make that vocal, fans and they've also got that history and all those banners. It's a tough place to play on the road and you don't want to be there, especially during the playoffs....

Game B--Rio Rancho @ Pacific Hills (@ Brentwood)

Rio Rancho comes in as an at-large from the Freedom League, in which they finished 6th with an overall record of 13-6. Pacific Hills comes in as an at-large entry from the Delphic league in which the Bruins finished 4th this season with a record of 13-13.

We don't know a lot about Rio Rancho other than what we've read, and unfortunately, they didn't turn in a roster or media sheet, at least we didn't get one this past Sunday in the packet that was released. Pacific Hills, if they were in any other league besides the Delphic this year would probably be a seeded team in this division, but because the Delphic only sends three teams (it's a six team league) the fourth place team has to be a wild-card. Pacific Hills is led by senior point guard Amahl Amedu and they've got some talented younger players like Frank Henry Ala (6'-2" Fr. G) and Jordi Ubaldo (6'-2" Fr. C) as well as Jerard Moret (6'-3" Fr. F). Other than Paul Eschardies (6'-4" So.C) and Jason Moore (6'-2" Sr. F) they really don't have much size, but Amedu is quick and has a good handle and can either be a playmaker or a scorer.

The winner will play Faith Baptist on Friday @ Faith Baptist, the No. 2 entry from the Heritage League, and if we had to handicap the second round game, we'd say that either of the two wild card teams can handle Faith Baptist with ease, and either should be expected to move on to the second round matchup against the winner of Santa Clara and whoever wins wild-card game A.