LA VERNE – The teams in the mix for the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division playoff field were shaken, not stirred, Tuesday night.
And that could be the case again on Wednesday’s final night of the regular season.
The Etiwanda Eagles made the race to Saturday’s noon unveil of the Open field (be it eight, 10 or 12 teams) more compelling Tuesday night at Damien High, knocking off the host Spartans, 50-43, in the Baseline League tournament title game.
The Eagles (26-2) came into Damien’s Athletic Center standing at No. 13 in the most recent (last week) CIF SS computer ratings, while the Spartans (26-5) were No. 8.
An Open field of 12 teams (my well-informed “gut” tells me that will be the number, with a makeup of four pools of three teams) would seem to be the size needed for the “computer” to find a spot for the Eagles.
Their only losses were to Damien (56-43, at home, on Jan. 8) and Liberty of Henderson (61-59 in OT, on Dec. 27 in the Gold Division of the Classic at Damien), the top-ranked team in Nevada after beating Coronado and Bishop Gorman last week.
Damien and Etiwanda played in the Open Division in 2022, and in Division 1 the past three years.
Neither coach will bite their fingernails to the quick over the next three-plus days in anticipating of where their teams land Saturday.
“I only worry about things I have control over,” Damien’s Mike LeDuc said earlier Tuesday.
Dan Ryan took the same stance after his team’s dynamic defensive effort in the Eagles’ most significant win of the season.
“I haven’t spent any time looking at ‘rankings’ or reading what people have to say (about potential Open fields) on social media,” Ryan said.
“So, I have ‘zero’ thoughts about it (where his team could land). My only focus is on ‘us’ and what we can do to improve every day.”
The Eagles came into Tuesday night’s game allowing 47.0 points per game, surrendering as many as 60 points just three times, and just 56 in their 13-point defeat in the first meeting with Damien.
In that contest, the visiting Spartans scored the game’s first 24 points over six minutes.
But they missed 22 of their final 30 field-goal attempts.
“It was fortunate that we just played them a few weeks ago, and had three days to prepare for the game tonight,” Ryan said, alluding to the Eagles’ most recent game the previous Thursday night against Rancho Cucamonga.
“Coach LeDuc has had great success for so long with his offense. So, (during practice) we made sure the guys understood what they had to do (to slow it down).”
It obviously registered with his players.
“The last time,” Ryan added, “we played tough defense for the last three quarters. This time, we did for all four quarters.”
The Spartans hit just 17 of 55 shots from the field (31 percent) and even struggled to shoot while they weren’t being guarded, missing a staggering nine of 13 free throws.
Although the Eagles hit 17 of 33 from the field they weren’t a bastion of fluidity and efficiency on offense, either, missing nine of 21 free throws and committing 19 turnovers.
Sophomore guard Devin Mitchell (pictured) led the Eagles with 15 points, with four 3s, despite missing four of his five free throws.
Senior guard Elijah Smith led the Spartans with 16 points but missed all four of his shots from the field in the fourth quarter.
In other games expected to impact the makeup and seeding in the Open and Division 1:
*St. John Bosco (72-66 over Mater Dei) and Santa Margarita (84-56 vs. JSerra) won Trinity League tourney semifinals Tuesday night at Hope International University in Fullerton, moving them into Wednesday night’s (7:30) title game for the top CIF SS playoff seed from the league.
Regardless of the outcome, each is likely to land in the top five of the Open field.
The Braves (20-6 and No. 5 in this week’s BurlisonOnBasketball.com Top 30) edged the Eagles (25-3 and No. 3), 74-73 in double overtime, when the teams played at Santa Margarita on Jan. 9.
The league’s third automatic spot in the CIF SS playoffs will be determined by the outcome of the 5:30 game between JSerra (18-12 and No. 15) and Mater Dei (17-13 and No. 25), also at HIU.
The Lions have five wins in a row against the Monarchs over the three seasons.
*No. 2 Redondo Union (25-3) wrapped up its regular season Tuesday night in the same overwhelming fashion in which it’s beaten its other opponents in the ’26 portion of the 2025-26 season.
Nevada-bound S.J. Madison scored 30 points and junior point guard Joey Albala hit three 3s with five assists, as the Sea Hawks rolled past rival and host Mira Costa (23-5 and No. 19), 90-63.
It was their 11th win in a row since losing to Phoenix Sunnyslope (No. 3 in the nation via Maxpreps.com) in the Classic at Damien Platinum championship game on Dec. 30.
The average winning margin in that stretch is 40.6 points.
*La Mirada (22-6 and No. 7) cruised to its 14th win in a row while knocking visiting Gahr, 79-42, in a Gateway League finale Tuesday night.
The Matadores have only lost to teams that will be in the Open Division playoffs (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame, Harvard-Westlake and St. John Bosco) or would be in the Open Division if they were members of the CIF SS (San Francisco Riordan, Richmond Salesian and Layton Christian Academy of Utah).
*Sierra Canyon (22-1 and No. 1) can secure the Open’s top seed with a Mission League tourney championship win over visiting Notre Dame (19-6 and No. 4) Wednesday night at 7 o’clock in Chatsworth.
The game features two 2026 McDonald’s All-American (Brandon McCoy Jr. and Maximo Adams of Sierra Canyon) and an almost certain 2027 McD’s AA (NaVorro Bowman Jr. of Notre Dame).
Bowman scored 36 points in his team’s 78-74 loss at Sierra Canyon on Jan. 9.
*And, at Roosevelt High in Eastvale, Corona Centennial (24-5 and No. 9) plays cross-town opponent Santiago (25-4) at 7 o’clock Wednesday for the Big VIII tourney championship.
The Huskies prevailed at Santiago, 71-66, on Jan. 23.
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