LAGUNA NIGUEL – Tuesday night’s CIF Southern Section boys’ basketball playoff action will decide which teams advance to Friday’s semifinals:
It will also determine which programs will be bounced from the opportunity to play in the State Southern Regional playoffs in a couple of weeks.
In a pristine illustration of the quality of depth in Divisions 1 and 2AA – I’ll get to the Open Division in a bit – at least five and as many as six squads rated from No.’s 6 to 21 in the most recent BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 30 will lose Tuesday night.
And, voila! Their seasons are over, and it will be time for their players to prep for “club ball” and – for some of the programs – the Section 7 (June 21-23/Glendale, AZ) and Cali Live (June 28-30/Roseville, in NorCal) high school team competition.
Each of the D-1 quarterfinals is a “Top 30 vs. Top 30” clash, with the division’s top seed, No. 6 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, playing host to No. 19 Santa Margarita.
It’s another “Top 30 vs. Top 30” in Long Beach, where No. 20 St. Anthony is at home to face No. 21 Campbell Hall in the 2-AA division.
The last of those Top 30 teams in action (other than in the Open Division) has No. 15 Heritage Christian traveling from Northridge to Orange County to face Fountain Valley in another 2-AA contest.
Also on Tuesday night, two of the eight Open teams will take big steps toward trips to Riverside for the Feb. 23 championship game at Cal Baptist.
No.’s 1 and 2 seeds Harvard-Westlake and Roosevelt, respectively, play host to other teams that won their Friday night contests in the first round of pool play.
Sierra Canyon visits Studio City to take on Harvard-Westlake in a clash of Mission League squads. The Trailblazers prevailed, 74-68, when they played in Chatsworth on Jan. 19.
And, in Eastvale, Roosevelt plays host to St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy.
It’s a rematch for those clubs, too, as the Mustangs held off the SP/SMA Warriors, 59-54, during the Jan. 20 State Preview at Colony High in Ontario.
Both of those teams are paced by strong SoCal Player of the Year candidates by way of 6-foot-6, University of San Francisco-bound Tyrone Riley for the Warriors and 6-5 junior Brayden Burries of the Mustangs.
It’s also a compelling matchup of teams that won the Platinum Divisions of the most prestigious “pre-Christmas” (St. Pius X/St. Matthias/the Dec. 18-21 Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas) and “post-Christmas” (Roosevelt/the Dec. 27-30 Classic at Damien) tournaments in the western United States. Riley (pictured) and Burries won Most Outstanding Player hardware in those events.
The winners of those games will take 2-0 record into Friday night’s final round of Pool Play.
All eight of the Open teams will advance to regional action in either in the Open or in Division I.
*As an illustration of how deep the eight-division, Classic at Damien was, 27 of its teams are still active in the Southern Section or L.A. City playoffs, 13 of those coming from among the 24 teams still standing in the CIF SS Open, I and 2AA divisions.
There will be seven “Classic vs. Classic” games Tuesday: Centennial-St. John Bosco and SP/SMA-Roosevelt in the Open; Etiwanda-Redondo Union and St. Bernard-Damien in D-1; Culver City-Rolling Hills Prep in 2AA; Bosco Tech-Northwood in 3A and Orange Vista-Diamond Ranch in 4AA.
Tuesday schedule involving BurlisonOnBasketball Top 30 teams
(ratings last updated on Feb. 3, prior to release of CIF SS pairings)
Unless noted, games tip at 7 p.m.
OPEN
No. 5 Sierra Canyon (25-2) at No. 3 Harvard-Westlake (27-3)
No. 10 Corona Centennial (20-11) at No. 4 St. John Bosco (23-6)
No. 7 JSerra (24-5) at No. 2 Mater Dei (26-3)
No. 9 St. Pius X/St. Matthias Academy (23-5) at No. 1 Eastvale Roosevelt (28-2)
DIVISION 1
No. 19 Santa Margarita (19-10) at No. 6 Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (26-3)
No. 16 Etiwanda (25-5) at No. 13 Redondo Union (23-4)
No. 22 St. Bernard (15-11) at No. 11 Damien (25-4)
No. 17 Los Alamitos (24-5) at No. 8 Windward (26-3)
D-2AA
No. 21 Campbell Hall (13-16) at No. 20 St. Anthony (21-7)
No. 15 Heritage Christian (21-8) at Fountain Valley (18-12)
Other games include:
Great Oak (19-11) at Thousand Oaks (24-6)
Culver City (19-8) vs. Rolling Hills Prep (24-5) at Harbor College
DIVISIONS WITH NON-TOP 30 TEAMS
D-2A
Bishop Amat (23-7) vs. San Gabriel Academy (19-9) at Pasadena Marshall
Marina (23-7) at Cypress (23-6)
Murrieta Valley (20-10) at Long Beach Poly (22-8)
Westlake (24-6) at Corona del Mar (24-6)
D-3AA
La Habra (26-4) at Sage Hill (17-12)
Camarillo (20-10) at Hesperia (22-8)
Gardena Serra (18-12) at Arcadia (20-9)
St. Bonaventure (22-8) at Valley View (19-11)
D-3A
San Clemente (24-5) at Santa Barbara (23-7)
Bosco Tech (21-8) at Northwood (23-7)
Woodbridge (19-8) at North Torrance (22-8)
Lynwood (21-9) at Alemany (17-15)
D-4AA
Milken Community (19-8) at Price (19-9)
Costa Mesa (18-12) at Yeshiva (18-10)
Cerritos (19-10) at Highland (14-14)
Orange Vista (14-8) at Diamond Ranch (20-8)
D-4A
Temecula Valley (16-13) at Long Beach Cabrillo (17-13)
Santa Paula (25-5) at Estancia (22-8)
Temecula Hillcrest Christian (21-8) at Mary Star (20-9)
Rancho Mirage (22-8) at Northview (22-9)
D-5AA
El Segundo (21-9) at Trinity Classic Academy (22-7)
Buckley (18-10) at Glendale Hoover (15-12)
Godinez (24-6) at Castaic (16-14)
Ventura (11-16) at Dunn (15-8)
D-5A
Ontario (17-4) at Rancho Alamitos (19-11)
Firebaugh (14-10) at Los Amigos (20-8)
Foothill Tech (16-13) at Big Bear (22-5)
Riverside Notre Dame (22-7) at La Puente (19-10)
L.A. City
OPEN
(Saturday, at El Camino College)
Laces (18-10) vs. Chatsworth (16-13), 2:30 p.m.
King/Drew (17-11) vs. Birmingham (17-12), 6 p.m.
D-I
(Friday, at Roybal High)
San Pedro (20-10) vs. Crenshaw (14-12), 6 p.m.
Fairfax (9-20) vs. Washington Prep (13-15), 7:30 p.m.
D-II
(Wednesday)
Sylmar (15-14) at Garfield (22-2)
Arleta (15-10) at Sun Valley Poly (12-16)
North Hollywood (10-19) at Manual Arts (26-2)
Marquez (22-7) at Verdugo Hills (18-11)
D-III
(Wednesday)
Fremont (7-18) at L.A. Jordan (21-6)
Amino Venice (18-9) at Sotomayor (18-11)
Huntington Park (12-16) at Carson (11-16)
Banning (7-19) at Franklin (14-11)
D-IV
(Wednesday)
Locke (14-10) at Bernstein (24-5)
Triumph Center (24-4) at L.A. Wilson (17-10)
Reseda (8-9) at Bell (10-12)
Contreras (14-12) at Math & Science (21-7)
D-V
(Wednesday)
Alliance Park (11-13) at New Designs (21-3)
Orthopaedic (16-9) at USC-MAE (10-6)
Belmont (4-19) at Horace Mann (11-7)
Sun Valley Magnet (10-9) at Dr. Maya Angelou (15-14)
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