LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Friday night’s CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinal matchups are set and made up of the top four seeds that were unveiled as part of the 16-team field bracket on Feb. 12.
Top seed Chino Hills (29-0) and No. 4 Mater Dei (27-3) moved into their Friday night showdown (7 o’clock at Ayala High in Chino Hills) with relative little fuss or muss.
The Huskies met an opponent that tried to “fight fire with fire” by playing a fast-paced tempo with them Tuesday night and the result was fairly predictable: Chino Hills 112, host Inglewood 78.
And, in Santa Ana, the Monarchs won their 10th game in a row with another strong defensive effort while toppling No. 5 seed Corona Centennial, 61-46.
Coach Gary McKnight’s team has allowed an average of only 53.5 points in that stretch.
Conversely Chino Hills is averaging 100 points per game on the season and 106 in its two playoff games.
But the No.’s 2 and 3 seeds didn’t have such smooth sailing Tuesday night en route to the semifinals.
No. 2 Bishop Montgomery (26-1) – with its only loss coming to Chino Hills on Jan. 30 at Cerritos College in Norwalk – needed a desperation 3-pointer from sophomore David Singleton in the closing seconds to edge No. 7 seed Damien, 58-56, in overtime at El Camino College in Torrance.
And, in Redondo Beach, No. 3 Sierra Canyon (26-3) needed to rally from six points down a minute into the fourth quarter before overcoming No. 6 Redondo Union, 74-70, behind 21 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots from 6-foot-8 junior Cody Riley.
Junior guard Remy Martin scored a game-high 24 points for the Trailblazers, with 16 of those coming after intermission.
Sierra Canyon – which will likely play “host” to its game with Bishop Montgomery either at Pierce or Valley community colleges in the San Fernando Valley – did a lot of damage to Redondo’s upset hopes at the free-throw line, where the Trailblazers hit 29 of 40 attempts, including 12 of 16 in the fourth quarter.
The Sea Hawks (who play a consolation game at No. 12 seed Compton Friday night) missed the only free throw they attempted over the first three quarters and hurt themselves by hitting just six of 10 over the final eight minutes.
Nevada-bound guard Devearl Ramsey put Sierra Canyon ahead to stay on a layup following a back cut out with 49 seconds to go on a set play out of a timeout.
Guard Morgan Means led Redondo with 21 points, seven rebounds and five assists while fellow seniors Leland Green (13) and Elijah Nesbitt (10 points), as did junior guard Ryse Williams (11).
The results of the first two rounds of the Open Division mean that Chino Hills, Bishop Montgomery, Sierra Canyon and Mater Dei will represent the Southern Section in the State Southern Open Regional regardless of what happens Friday night or during the March 5 championship game in the Honda Center.
The other eight teams that have won a game – Centennial, Redondo, Damien, Alemany, Inglewood, Crespi, Eastvale Roosevelt and Compton – will be slotted in Division I for regional play while 0-2 teams Cantwell-Sacred Heart, Los Alamitos, Orange Lutheran and Santa Margarita will be in Division II.
In other consolation matchups Friday night Crespi will be at Inglewood, Alemany at Damien and Centennial at Roosevelt.
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