Southern Regional D-I Saturday boys’ hoops semis should be sensational

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REDONDO BEACH – Twenty-four hours after a couple of dandy State Southern Regional Open Division semifinals were set for Saturday night, the same thing happened in the Division I boys’ basketball playoff action.

The No.’s 1 (Sierra Canyon, 78-45 vs. Santa Barbara), 2 (Redondo Union, 89-66 over Los Alamitos) and 3 (JSerra, pounding Carlsbad, 79-54) seeds rolled to wins Thursday night, while No. 7 Mira Costa held off No. 15 San Diego Torrey Pines, 44-39.

Those results set the table for Saturday night’s games pitting JSerra at Sierra Canyon, and Mira Costa traveling to Redondo Union.

The latter clash will be the third meeting of the season between the host Sea Hawks (27-5)  and Mira Costa (31-4), which shared the Bay League championship.

The visiting Mustangs rallied from 16 points down early in the third quarter at Redondo Union in Feb. 4’s final regular season game, 69-68, to earn their piece of the title.

That win also gave Coach Neal Perlmutter’s team the No. 2 seed in the CIF Southern Section’s Division 1 playoffs, where they won four games before falling to Los Alamitos in the title game last Saturday night in the Ontario’s Toyota Arena, 63-60.

Coach Reggie Morris, Jr.’s Sea Hawks were the No. 7 seed in the CIF SS Open playoffs, where they lost at Sierra Canyon in overtime and at eventual champion Roosevelt while picking up a win at No. 4 seed St. John Bosco and at home to 10 seed Heritage Christian to bag the No. 3 seed in the regional on Sunday evening.

Saturday night’s winners in all six (Open thru D-IV) finals will play Tuesday night for slots in the state championships vs. their Northern counterparts in Sacramento next weekend.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Morris said of the Saturday night game with the Mustangs, which is expected to draw at least as many spectators – 2,200 or so – as the Feb. 4 game did in the Sea Hawks’ gym.

“They’re a real good team and it should be a great game.”

The Sea Hawks committed 20 turnovers on Feb. 4 – some self-inflicted but most vs. the Mustangs’ full-court pressure and traps – which were significant in Mira Costa pulling it out.

And the Sea Hawks committed seven turnovers in the first seven minutes Thursday night – some of those cashed in for the visitors’ five 3s that helped them go up, 22-17, with a  minute to go in the quarter.

But the Sea Hawks’ handling, passing and decision making against the defense of Los Alamitos (26-9) got sounder from that point, with a layup by S.J. Madison and buzzer-beating 3 by Chace Holley sandwiched around an ankle injury suffered by the visitors’ Kedric Delaney.

One of five seniors Coach Nate Berger started Tuesday night – and his best defender – Delaney was a bench-bound spectator the rest of the night, with an ice pack on his left ankle.

The Sea Hawks turned the ball over twice early in the second quarter but ­– forcing five turnovers with their own pressure and pushing the ball in transition – outscored the Griffins, 27-7, over the final 5 ½ minutes of the quarter.

The Griffins used a 9-2 run – with three Redondo turnovers in that stretch – to pare their deficit to 16 points midway thru the third quarter.

But they never got closer as the hosts’ superior depth, drivers and “finishers” more than offset the Griffins’ edge in 3-pointers (12 to 11).

Senior Brayden Miner’s 20 points (including six 3s) was one four Redondo starters to score at least 15 points while the fifth starter – sophomore Chris Sanders – scored only six points but grabbed 11 rebounds with 10 assists.

Juniors Madison (with nine rebounds and four assists, before suffering an apparent left ankle sprain late in the third quarter) and Holley (seven of nine from the field) added 15 apiece.

“When we watched film (Wednesday) we saw that they (Los Alamitos) had changed their press and half-court defense since we last played them,” senior Hudson Mayes (pictured) said, in reference to his’s team 92-75 win over the Griffins at North Torrance High on Jan. 18, after his 19-point (nine of 11 from the field) and eight-rebound effort Thursday.

“We came out a little sloppy, but we didn’t panic and once we were able to get the ball up the court and started making some extra passes, we got good shots. That’s our identity: We have so many guys who can score than it’s hard for teams to try to stop us by loading up on one or two guys.”

The loss capped a remarkable four-season run for the Griffins’ senior class (which counts four players that finished with at least 1,000 varsity points) – not coincidently, the four years in which Berger has been his alma mater’s head coach.

The Griffins won their first Southern Section title in 18 years after dropping a double-overtime decision at Windward last season in the Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals.

They’re 93-30 with Berger at the helm, winning 18 of 20 games before Thursday night. Their record against Orange County programs this season was 16-1 (the only loss to the Open Division’s Santa Margarita in a Dec. 28 Classic at Damien Platinum Division consolation game.

The  significant losses – including guard Samori Guyness, who scored a game-high 15 points Thursday – to graduation should prove just a minor speed  bump for one of the state’s fastest rising programs.

Berger’s 2025-26 squad will be led by 6-foot-5 Tyler Lopez, outstanding in the post-season and one of the top five seniors in Orange County next season.

And Berger – likely the Coach of the Year selection by the Orange County Register – has a strong freshmen class.

As many as three of those Class of 2028 members ­– Isaiah Williamson, Riley Bowers and Zaelyn Corral-Wyse – could be starting this by this spring and summer.