D-I openers go to form . . . with a notable exception

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Tuesday night’s first round of the California State Boys Basketball Regional Division I playoffs went to script – with one notable exception.

The Santa Margarita High Eagles – who played in the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division and was awarded the No. 2 seed in the division by the state office Sunday afternoon – were stunned by visiting and 15 seed Torrey Pines of San Diego, 66-59, as junior forward Trent Green scored 21 points.

The upset by the 24-6 Falcons means that No. 7 seed Mira Costa (which rallied to beat another CIF SS squad, Crean Lutheran, 61-48, Tuesday night to go to 30-4) will get to stay on its home court in Manhattan Beach Thursday night for a second-round/quarterfinal game with Torrey Pines.

In the other seven games, the top seeds held serve, with No. 1 Sierra Canyon rolling past Corona Centennial, 73-48; No. 3 Redondo Union stopping CIF SS 2-AA runner-up Newport Pacific Christian, 77-54; and No. 4 JSerra cruising over San Marcos of San Diego, 80-56.

Those three wins by other CIF SS Open participants set the stage for terrific quarterfinal showdowns.

Along with the Torrey Pines at Mira Costa clash, Sierra Canyon (23-7) plays host to No. 6 Santa Barbara (27-6 after stopping Mission Bay of San Diego, 72-60); Redondo Union (26-5) is at home to CIF SS D-1 winner Los Alamitos (the 84-72 decision over visiting Cathedral Catholic from the San Diego Section was the 26-8 Griffins’ 12^th win in a row), and JSerra (23-10) welcomes another San Diego Section visitor, Carlsbad (which edged CIF SS 2-AA winner Fairmont Prep, 59-55).

Three of those Thursday games will be rematches.

*Sierra Canyon (23-7) lost to host Santa Barbara (27-6), 75-74, via a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Luke Zuffelato on Dec. 30.

*Redondo Union pulled away in the fourth quarter to knock off Los Alamitos, 92-75, on Jan. 18 at North Torrance High as part of the Rolling Hills Prep/State Preview.

*And JSerra knocked off Carlsbad (26-6), 91-77, in a Torrey Pines Holiday Classic semifinal on Dec. 28.

The Lions’ Tuesday night, eased-up win over outmatched San Marcos (which went into the San Diego Open playoffs as the No. 3 seed and ended its season 25-5) leaves them with a 5-0 record vs. San Diego County-based squads.

But there is scant chance that the JSerra squad – and especially its coach, Keith Wilkinson – will go into Thursday night’s game with anything approaching over confidence.

Their Dec. 28, up-close look at UC San Diego-bound guard Jake Hall, who is averaging 29 ppg and dropped 32 on them that game, is too vivid a memory even more than two months after the fact.

“He (Hall) is a monster, and they know how to get him open for good shots,” he said, after his team rained 16 field goals from behind the arc and over the Knights’ zone Tuesday night.

The Lions have more losses than any of the other D-I teams playing Thursday night and dropped five of their previous seven games prior to Tuesday night.

But those numbers should have big *s next to them.

Two of those losses came to Trinity League foes (Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco) that joined them in the CIF SS Open’s 10-team field.

And there was a 1-3 record in Pool Play, with the losses coming on the road at Notre Dame and Harvard-Westlake – the respective No.’s 3 and 4 seeds in the regional Open bracket ­– and at home to La Mirada, the No. 9 CIF SS Open seed.

“We didn’t get our first two goals (winning the Trinity League and a CIF SS title),” senior guard Dominic Bolton (pictured) said, after eight flicks of his right wrist in 11 attempts gave him half his team’s 3-point buckets and 24 points.

“So, we had a good week of physical practices, knowing we can still get our third goal (a regional championship that would take them to Sacramento for the March 14 D-I title game).”

Also doing pretty much anything they wanted for the Lions Tuesday night were SMU-bound B.J. Davis (five 3s, 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists) and junior forward Brannon Martinsen (two 3s, 16 points, six rebounds and three assists).

The Knights started four underclassmen and used five more off the bench. They were led by dynamic sophomore guard Richie Ramirez (24 points via 10 of 14 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line).