LONG BEACH, Ca. – The matchups set for the State Southern Regional boys finals are such that the collective six games, split between the Walter Pyramid at Long Beach State and Colony High in Ontario, can be called “Rematch Saturday”.
Take a gander:
*The Open Division title game (8:30 p.m./Walter Pyramid), pitting 33-0 Chino Hills and 28-2 Bishop Montgomery, is a rematch of a contest played on Jan. 30 at Cerritos College.
The Huskies, despite falling behind 17-6 and later trailing by eight points with about six minutes to go, prevailed, 71-67, in front of an elbow-to-elbow, packed building;
*Crespi and Redondo, the top seeds in Division I who meet for the right to go to Sacramento next week on Saturday at 3 o’clock in the Walt Pyramid, hooked up in Encino March 4.
And Crespi prevailed in the Southern Section’s Open Division “consolation championship game”, 89-71;
*J.W. North and Long Beach battle for the Division II crown at 11 a.m. in the Walter Pyramid.
They played two weeks earlier in the Honda Center for the Southern Section’s IAA championship. JWN hung on for the 61-58 victory;
*Ayala and Bonita, who play for the Division III title at 8 o’clock at Colony High, split a pair of pair of games during Palomares League competition;
*Viewpoint beat Harvard-Westlake in a tournament finale in December.
Saturday at 2 o’clock at Colony the teams will meet again with something more substantial at stake – the Southern Region’s representative to the State Division IV championship game in Sacramento next week;
*And, in the Colony gymnasium at noon on Saturday, Rancho Christian, which beat St. Bernard in the Southern Section 5AA finale two weeks ago, will try to pull off the same accomplishment in the Southern Regional Division V final.
But, of course, the most anticipated of the five contested is easily the one that will be last on the schedule Saturday night in the Walter Pyramid.
The unbeaten Huskies are just two victories away – Saturday night’s contest and the March 26 State title game in Sacramento – from finishing 35-0 and being a unanimous choice as the unofficial “national champion”.
The Knights – led by juniors Ethan Thompson and Jordan Schackel, and sophomore David Singleton – have long since been considered the California squad best equipped to bring the Huskies’ aspirations of an unbeaten record and state and national titles to a halt.
But, as have been demonstrated time and again in the Southern Section and Southern Regional playoffs, knocking off the Lonzo Ball and his teammates will be a steep chore, be it Saturday or seven nights later.
During that stretched they’ve beaten six opponents by an average margin of 31.6 points.
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