Week II on tap for SoCal high school playoffs

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Here we go, boys and girls, ladies and gentlemen:

My look at the second week of the CIF’s Southern and L.A. City sections’ hoops playoffs.

And I’ll start with the toughest division of them all as Tuesday’s second-round (Round of 16 for L.A. City and first four Southern Section divisions) games rapidly approach . . .

SOUTHERN SECTION

  1AA: Top seed Santa Ana Mater Dei (at Downey Warren), No. 2 Long Beach Poly (home to Lakewood Mayfair) and No. 6 Etiwanda (home to Temecula Great Oak) shouldn’t be too severely challenged en route to Friday’s quarterfinal round.

The three best (or, at least, entertaining) matchups figure to be Rancho Cucamonga at Inglewood, Mission Viejo at Orange Lutheran and Pasadena at Loyola.

All should be played at (relatively) fast and quick-scoring paces.

The first of the three will match a couple of the best sets of guards in Southern California – as should the third, come to think of it.

Rancho Cucamonga got 53 points from Victor Joseph (one of the best junior point guards in the Southland) and Malcolm Drumwright (an unsigned senior who is the best deep-range shooter in the region) when the Cougars stunned Etiwanda in a Baseline League game – which set the stage for coin flip for the top playoff seed from the league the set the stage for Etiwanda getting the No. 6 seed.

Inglewood has the most physically imposing backcourt in SoCal in Xavier-bound and St. Bernard transfer Brandon Randolph and unsigned senior Randy Onwuasor, along with another St. Bernard transfer in 6-foot-4 Michael Garcia.

Loyola has one of the best junior point guards anywhere  in Parker Jackson-Cartwright and a jump shooter in the mold of Malcolm Drumwright in (a likewise unsigned senior) Trey Mason.

Pasadena counters with UTEP signee Andre Spight (who was at Burbank last season) and Perris Hicks.

The Mission Viejo-Orange Lutheran contest is between programs that played for the Southern Section’s 1A title last March (won by the OL Lancers, 64-58).

The Diablos have won of the best unsigned seniors in California in 6-4 guard Evan Zeller while Orange Lutheran is led by four-year varsity performance – and Penn State signee – Payton Banks.

Other second-round 1A games Tuesday night (all games are scheduled to tip at 7 o’clock): Rancho Verde at Chino Hills and Victorville Silverado at Corona Centennial.

IA: Top seed Lake Forest El Toro survived – winning, 65-62 – against a Long Beach Cabrillo opponent in what came dangerously close (for the Chargers) of being one of the most stunning first-round upsets in recent memory.

Coach Todd Dixon’s club is at Diamond Bar in a second game Tuesday and the Chargers should still be considered heavy favorites to get to the title game against either No. 2 Santa Monica (and Cal-bound Jordan Mathews) or No. 3. Valencia West Ranch.

Best second-round tilt: No. 4 Crescenta Valley at No. 13 Huntington Beach Edison.

2AA: The march to the final between No. 1 Riverside JW North and No. 2 Thousand Oaks should continue unabated – even on the road – Tuesday night against Lancaster and Fontana AB Miller, respectively.

Best second-round contest: No. 9 Perris at No. 9 Lawndale.

2A: Top seeds Westlake (at Newport Harbor) and Redondo (at Santa Ana Godinez) in their Round of 16 contests Tuesday evening.

Two “at-large” selections that won on the road Friday night hook of Tuesday when Compton Dominguez (which recorded one of the biggest opening round stunners by shocking Santa Maria Righetti) visits Glendora (a 10 seed and Friday winner at Hemet).

3AAA: Quarterfinal action is en store in the rest of these Southern Section divisions and each of the four games here – La Verne Bonita at No. 1 Tustin, No. 4 Compton at No. 5 Calabasas, No. 6 Simi Valley Royal at West Torrance and No. 15 Anaheim Servite at No. 10 Brea Olinda – should be extremely competitive.

Best quarterfinal: Compton at Calabasas, with a likely nifty matchup of junior point guards Kyron Cartwright and Jeremy Lieberman, respectively.

3AA: Four solid matchups here – No. 8 Atascadero at No. 1 Lawndale Leuzinger, Diamond Bar Diamond Rancho at No. 5 Santa Margarita, No. 6 Santa Barbara San Marcos at No. 3 Newport Beach Corona del Mar and No. 2 La Verne Damien at Temescal Canyon (which has “upset” No. 10 Garden Grove Pacifica and No. 7 Temple City in the first two rounds).

An upset of Leuzinger Tuesday night wouldn’t be a shocker. Atascadero has a very good set of junior guards in Robby Berwick and Jared Studeman although Leuzinger’s overall quickness advantage will be significant.

Best quarterfinal: Atascadero-Leuzinger.

3A: Top seeds Bellflower St. John Bosco and Oak Park toyed with their first two opponents and, although much more competitive, the games at L.A. Cathedral and La Canada St. Francis, respectively, should go the favorites’ way.

Other matchups: Irvine Northwood at Huntington Beach Ocean View and Hemet Tahquitz at West Hills Chaminade.

Best quarterfinal: Northwood at Ocean View in the all-(Orange) County affair.

4AA: The only division in SoCal that challenges the SS 1AA for overall strength is this one and that will be evident Tuesday night when top-ranked (and unbeaten) Torrance Bishop Montgomery is at North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake, L.A. Windward visits La Verne Lutheran, Gardena Serra plays host to San Juan Capistrano and L.A. Price takes to Encino to face Virginia-pound point guard London Perrantes and Crespi.

Best matchup: Take your choice – they all should be very good and tight.

4A: Who can prevent Alpha League members and top seeds L.A. Pacific Hills and L.A. Brentwood from ultimately meeting for a third time this season for a Southern Section championship?

Tuesday it will be Ventura St. Bonaventure (which hosts Pacific Hills) and San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s (which is at Brentwood).

Good luck, guys – you’ll need it against the heavy division favorites.

Other quarterfinals: Long Beach Saint Anthony at Rosemead Cantwell Sacred-Heart and N. Hollywood Campbell at Santa Maria St. Joseph.

Best of the games: Saint Anthony at Cantwell Sacred-Heart.

5AA: Top-ranked Sun Valley Village Christian (which hosts Burbank Bellarmine Jefferson) may be way too tough for the rest of this field.

Huntington Beach Brethren (and 7-5 Mamadou Ndiaye), which plays host (at Vanguard College in Costa Mesa) to Sherman Oaks Buckley Tuesday night, could provide Village Christian’s biggest championship roadblock Friday night.

Other quarterfinals: San Juan Capistrano Saddleback Valley Christian at San Luis Obispo Prep Mission Prep and Oxnard Santa Clara at La Canada Flintridge Prep.

Best quarterfinal: Saddleback Valley Christian at Mission Prep.

 

5A: Top-ranked San Pedro Rolling Hills Prep isn’t likely to be seriously challenged in this division, in large part (pun intended) because of the presence in the lineup of 6-11, 260-pound sophomore Jimbo Lull.

The Huskies are at Ojai Thacher, with other quarterfinals being Holy Martyrs at Besant Hill, San Gabriel Academy at Desert Christian Academy and Valley Torah at Shalhevet.

Best quarterfinal: Rolling Hills Prep at Thacher, the biggest (pun intended) reason being the presence of Lull, who should be among the country’s best centers two years from now.

6A: Top-ranked Rio Hondo Prep has cruised by 32 and 29 points, respectively, in its first two games.

Games Tuesday: Lone Pine at Rio Hondo Prep, Desert Chapel at Cal Lutheran, Providence Hall at Joshua Springs and Trinity Classical Academy at Santa Maria Valley Christian.

Best quarterfinal: I can’t even take this one.

L.A. CITY

  Division I: Top-ranked L.A. Westchester and Woodland Hills El Camino Real should cruise against Woodland Hills Taft and Harbor City Narbonne, respectively, in two of the Tuesday quarterfinals.

The other quarterfinals: L.A. Fairfax at Palisades and L.A. University at L.A. Crenshaw.

Best quarterfinal: Taft, with the best player in the L.A. City in 6-3 Northern Arizona-bound Kris Yanku, visits Westchester.

The semifinals will are scheduled for Saturday night at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson.