LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – If you were looking for anything approaching “surprises” in Southern California high school basketball Friday night, you’d better not have come nosing around the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division.
The debut of arguably the strongest “sectional” playoff anywhere in high school hoops pretty much was status quo along seed lines.
The only thing that quality as a “seed upset” really wasn’t much of one at all, with No. 9 seed Inglewood, down by many as 17 points in the first, rallying to knock off host and No. 8 Mission Hills Alemany, 76-74.
No.’s 1-7 joined the Sentinels in Tuesday night’s championship quarterfinal portion of the bracket.
Inglewood (21-6) will play host to top-ranked Chino Hills (28-0) – at a site to be determined.
No. 2 Torrance Bishop Montgomery (25-1) will play host to No. 7 La Verne Damien (25-4) – also at an as-to-be-determined site.
No. 3 Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (24-3) will visit No. 6 Redondo Beach Redondo Union (22-4) while No. 4 Santa Ana Mater Dei (26-3) will play host to No. 5 Corona Centennial (22-6).
In the consolation round, Alemany will be at Santa Margarita; Compton at Cantwell-Sacred Heart, Orange Lutheran at Encino Crespi and Eastvale Roosevelt at Los Alamitos.
As had been anticipated, the most “competitive” – ie, “close” – of the eight SS Open games Friday night came via the contests pitting 8-9, 10-7 and 11-6 seeds.
Some may have been surprised that Inglewood – the runner-up to Redondo in the Bay League – was the No. 9 seed. But the Sentinels had a telling Bay League split with the Sea Hawks and also knocking off an L.A. City Open squad (Woodland Hills Taft).
Coach Pat Roy’s team withstood the first-quarter barrage of 3s (seven of them) by Alemany to earn its pop at Lonzo Ball and Chino Hills Tuesday night.
The Huskies produced their usual glutton of steals, dunks and 3s in rolling past Santa Margarita (100-66), the third Open representative from the Trinity League.
Redondo overcame poor shooting, from the arc (4 of 15) and free-throw line (6 of 15), as well as 16 turnovers to hold off Roosevelt, 56-54.
And the visitors almost won it at a buzzer via a 35-footer by junior Jemarl Baker that was just a smidge long.
I was at the Crespi-Damien affair and it was a compelling one.
The host Spartans pulled up by two points late in the first quarter via a 3-point from Colorado-bound Bryce Peters and never trailed the rest of the way.
But Crespi, via four 3s from junior guard Billy Oxley and some big plays down the stretch from USC-bound De’Anthony Melton, was able to pull to within four points with nine seconds to go.
After being inbounded the ball, though, Peters was fouled and hit two game-securing free throws with five seconds remaining.
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