Frank Burlison

SANTA ANA – The Etiwanda High boys’ basketball teams has lost just twice in the most recent 25 games it has played this season.

Tuesday night the Eagles will get a third pop at knocking off the squad that handed it those two losses.

Etiwanda (30-3) trailed by nine points midway thru the first quarter, used its stout half-court defense and balanced offense to knock off the host Monarchs, 65-61, in a Saturday night CIF State Open Regional semifinal pitting the division’s respective 3 and 2 seeds.

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BELLFLOWER – A year or so after winning CIF Southern Section 4A and State D-IV championships, the Ribet Academy program is showing it is more than capable of holding up to the “big boys” of high school basketball in Southern California.

Two nights after smashing long-time L.A. City powerhouse and Open champion Westchester by 24 points in a State Southern Regional D-I opener, the Fighting Frogs went into the St. John Bosco gymnasium Thursday night and toppled the bracket’s top seed, 61-58.

Six-foot -five sophomore Tre White – a transfer from Dallas who wasn’t cleared to play until Feb.

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The host school’s squad became the last of the 11 teams from last December’s Classic at Damien field to earn a spot in Saturday’s State Regional boys’ basketball semifinals.

And none of the first 10 had to go nearly as hard in their quarterfinals to earn a spot into Saturday’s play as did the Damien Spartans.

Coach Mike LeDuc’s team, the No. 15 seed in the Southern Division I bracket, trailed by 20 points late in the second quarter to Riverside Poly at Rancho Verde High in Moreno Valley before pulling it out, 128-123, in six four-minute overtime periods Thursday night.

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RANCHO CUCAMONGA – The host Etiwanda High Eagles, down by six points late in the third quarter, used an 17-0 run – from late in the third quarter until midway in the final quarter – to seize control of things before knocking off Evan Mobley-led Rancho Christian, 67-61, Wednesday night in a State Southern Open Regional quarterfinal.

The victory sends the Eagles (29-3) into a Saturday night (7) semifinal against host Mater Dei at 6 o’clock.

The hosts scored the first eight points but were down, 45-39, with about a minute to go in the third quarter before starting that 17-0 run that was culminated with an 11-point edge with about four minutes to go in the fourth quarter.

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LONG BEACH – It was an upsetting night – to say the least – in Tuesday’s night opening of the California Southern Regional boys’ basketball action.

Thirteen double-digit seeds went on the road and picked up wins that propelled them into Thursday night’s quarterfinals.

Three No. 15s knocked off No. 2 seeds, including in the Division I.

That’s where the Damien High Spartans, who lost to Riverside Poly (63-61) in a Feb. 21 Southern Section Division 1 semifinals – went into Long Beach and knocked off host St.

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