NEWPORT BEACH – For the second night, the Southern Section’s boys basketball Division 1 playoff division continued to demonstrate that “home-court advantage” is all but moot.
And the Open Division followed Division 1’s lead Friday night.
Following a Wednesday opening night of play in which the four top seeds – all playing on their home courts – won by an average margin of 21.5 points, a couple of visitors pulled out victories.
No. 12 seed La Mirada edged host and No. 5 St. John Bosco in Bellflower, 56-53, in Pool D.
And, about 30 miles southeast in Newport Beach, host and No. 8 Corona del Mar was outscored by No. 9 Crespi in Pool A, 82-70.
In the other two Open clashes, No. 10 Damien – which suffered the tightest margin of defeat (81-71) at No. 2 Santa Margarita Wednesday night – fell to host and No. 7 Harvard-Westlake, 67-62, while No. 11 Etiwanda was dropped by No. 6 Corona Centennial, 74-48.
Seven of the eight Division 1 second-round games Friday night were won by the visitors: Crean Lutheran (87-80, in overtime, against Corona Santiago); Village Christian (67-66 vs. Mira Costa in Manhattan Beach); Millikan (79-75, in OT, at Windward); Rancho Christian (94-82 vs. Cypress); Inglewood (103-92 at St. Bernard, behind Jason Crowe Jr.’s 54 points); Rolling Hills Prep (63-52, at Orange Lutheran); and JSerra (75-49 against Loyola).
The only home team to win in the division Friday night needed overtime to do so, Fairmont Prep edging Brentwood in Anaheim, 60-57.
Action in those divisions resumes Tuesday night, with the Division 1 winners cinching slots in the State Southern Regional playoffs.
Those have No. 1 Crean Lutheran (23-7) at home in Irvine vs. Village Christian (24-6); Millikan (24-6) on the road to Temecula for a clash with Rancho Christian (21-9); Fairmont Prep (19-11) traveling to Morningside High to take on No. 3 Inglewood (28-4); and Rolling Hills Prep (23-6) playing host to No. 2 JSerra (21-12) at North Torrance High.
The Corona del Mar Sea Kings , who drew one of the four Open byes Wednesday, took a 27-1 record into the Friday game that drew an SRO gathering.
None of those 27 wins – or the one loss – came against any of the other 11 teams punched into the Open Division by the computer system the CIF SS uses to seed and fill 10 playoff divisions.
Centennial was the only other Open team with that scheduling distinction, while each of the other 10 clubs played at least two Open opponents in the regular season.
And, despite trimming a 12-point deficit to four points late in the second quarter, the Sea Kings never really generated enough defensive heat to slow down the Celtics (20-12), one of the record four Open entries from the powerhouse Mission League.
Junior guard Isaiah Barnes hit five of six shots from the field (two of those 3s) for 12 points to help the visitors take a 23-16 lead into the second quarter.
A layup just before the buzzer took Crespi into the locker room up, 41-35, at intermission.
Coach Derek Fisher’s club scored the first nine points of the third quarter, and the Celtics’ advantage fluctuated between 10 to 15 the rest of the way.
Only the dynamic shot-making skill of junior Maxwell Scott kept things reasonably competitive for the Sea Kings.
Scott, who missed all three of his shots while picking up two personal fouls in the first quarter, heated up quickly in the second quarter and finished with 35 points, hitting 13 of 23 from the field (including four 3s) and all five of his free throws.
Making his production even more remarkable is that those points came over about 21 minutes of on-court time, as he sat out the final 3:19 of the third quarter after picking up his fourth foul.
Barnes, who hit all eight of his free throws in the fourth quarter, finished with 25 points while another junior, Jasiah Williams (pictured), came off the bench to add 23 points.
Williams was held out of his team’s 71-54 playoff-opening loss at Sierra Canyon (the top overall seed and one of the Mission teams in the field) Wednesday night with a sprain to his left ankle he suffered earlier in the week in practice.
“Once I got moving around earlier today (during the team’s shoot-around at Orange Coast College in nearby Costa Mesa), it felt a lot better,” Williams said of his ankle.
He showed plenty of bounce immediately when he checked in, getting nice lift when he knocked in a 3-pointer and bursting to the rim for layups off the dribble throughout the rest of the game.
Crespi joins La Mirada, Damien and Etiwanda with byes Tuesday while Corona del Mar hikes to Chatsworth to play Sierra Canyon; Harvard-Westlake comes to Orange County to challenge No. 2 Santa Margarita; Corona Centennial takes to Redondo Beach to face No. 3 Redondo Union; and No. 4 Notre Dame is at home to St. John Bosco in Sherman Oaks.
The only thing definitive about next Friday night’s Open schedule is that Damien and Etiwanda – as the No. 3 seeds in Pools B and C – will play at Damien (because the Spartans are seed No. 10 to Etiwanda’s 11), with the winner gaining a spot in the regional playoffs and the loser’s season ending.
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