State Southern Regionals/Division II
Wednesday’s first-round matchups (all 7 p.m. unless noted)
Upper bracket: No. 1 Carlsbad La Costa Canyon (31-2)/bye; No. 9 Ontario Colony (22-9) at No. 8 Woodland Hills El Camino (18-7); No. 12 L.A. Garfield (27-7) at No. 5 Inglewood (21-10); No. 13 Thousand Oaks (21-9) at No. 4 Elsinore (27-4).
Lower bracket: No. 14 Fullerton Sunny Hills (25-7) at No. 3 San Diego Lincoln (21-9); No. 11 Tulare Union (28-5) at No. 6 Santa Maria Righetti (25-5); No. 10 Simi Valley Royal (24-7) at No. 7 Fresno San Joaquin Memorial (23-8), 7:30; No. 2 Lakewood Mayfair (26-5)/bye
Division III
Wednesday’s first-round matchups (all 7 p.m. unless noted)
Upper bracket: No. 16 Bakersfield Independence (18-11) at No. 1 Mission Hills Alemany (28-4), 7:30; No. 9 Arroyo Grande (23-9) at No. 8 Bakersfield Ridgeview (20-8); No. 12 Van Nuys Grant (27-6) at No. 5 Oak Park (24-8); No. 13 Palm Desert (22-7) at No. 4 San Diego Cathedral Catholic (28-3).
Lower bracket: No. 14 Bakersfield Frontier (18-10) at No. 3 Calabasas (27-3); No. 11 San Diego Mission Bay (19-8) at No. 6 Bellflower St. John Bosco (22-7); No. 10 Visalia Mt. Whitney (28-6) at No. 7 L.A. Bell (21-5); No. 15 South Torrance (19-12) at No. 2 Pasadena (23-7).
What to watch for:
*Apparently determining the top seed – it was awarded to San Diego Division II champion instead of Southern Section IIAA winner – in Division II was the toughest choice committee members had to make. I’ve watch both teams four or five times apiece and I would have put Mayfair at No. 1 – the Monsoons had several more impressive victories, most notably Sacramento Sheldon during the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic.
*The best of the D-II and D-III first round tilts Wednesday will be, in my humble estimation, Colony at El Camino in D-II – both squads have exceptional backcourt play and excel in transition. It will be very high scoring.
*Potential terrific second-round games on Saturday could be Inglewood at Elsinore (a No. 4 seed that could win the regional!) and San Joaquin Memorial (led by 6-11 center Robert Upshaw) at Dion Wright-led Mayfair.
*Pasadena could prove otherwise in a possible final matchup on March 17 but D-III top seed Alemany might be the most solid favorite in any of the divisions – with the possible exception of St. Bernard in D-V.
*The best seniors in the respective divisions are Matt Shrigley (La Costa Canyon) in D-II and Marqueze Coleman (Alemany) in D-III.
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