Frank Burlison

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, family dogs . . .

Here are my game-by-game selections for the NCAA Tournament, culminating with the Final Four in San Antonio:

 

SOUTH

First Round: No. 1 Virginia-UMBC; Creighton-Kansas State; Kentucky-Davidson; Arizona-Buffalo; Miami-Loyola/Chi.; Tennessee-Wright State; Nevada-Texas; Cincinnati-Georgia State.

Second Round: Virginia-Creighton; Arizona-Kentucky; Tennessee-Miami; Cincinnati-Texas.

Regional Semifinals (Atlanta): Virginia-Arizona and Cincinnati-Miami.

Final: Cincinnati-Arizona

 

WEST

First Round: No. 1 Xavier-Texas Southern; Missouri-Florida State; Gonzaga-UNC/Greensboro; Ohio State-South Dakota State; Houston-San Diego State; Michigan-Montana; Texas A&M-Providence; North Carolina-Lipscomb.

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LOS ANGELES – Lake Balboa High’s basketball team may just 15-14.

But Coach Nicholas Halic’s Patriots are just a Saturday win away from a trip to Sacramento and a spot in the State Division II championship game next week.

Led by the all-around play of 6-foot-5 Devonaire Doutrive and the low-post dominance of 6-11 junior Christian Koloko (PICTURED), the Patriots held on to edge the host and top seed Brentwood School Eagles Tuesday night, 48-43.

The Patriots will take on Shareef O’Neal-led Crossroads – the No.

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BELLFLOWER – The St. John Bosco High basketball team rolled a Hard Eight on its Long Beach Poly counterpart Saturday night.

After falling behind by five points after Malik Salahuddin’s 12-footer with 2:50 remaining, the host Braves outscored the Jackrabbits 8-zip the rest of the way to pull out a 64-61 victory in the State Southern Regional Division I quarterfinal.

Coach Matt Dunn’s team, the top seed in the division after winning the consolation crown in the Southern Section’s Open Division playoffs, will be back in its gym Tuesday night for a semifinal against Temecula’s Rancho Christian.

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SANTA ANA – What is a perfect one-word description for the opening night of the State Regional Boys’ Open Division play?

“Upsetting” will do just fine, thank you very much.

The No. 1 seeds in both the North (30-1 Richmond Salesian, toppled by Folsom, 75-70) and the South (23-6 Mater Dei, edged by L.A. Fairfax, 50-47) were stunned on their home courts Friday night, shaking up the respective brackets going into Tuesday night semifinals.

Coach Gary McKnight’s Mater Dei team, which had knocked off Crespi, Etiwanda and Sierra Canyon to capture the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division crown, was down by 10 points –14-4 – six minutes into the game Friday night.

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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Jaxen Turner of Moreno Valley’s Rancho Verde High is rated among the very best defensive backs in the national Class of 2019.

And, as he put on display so precisely Thursday night at JSerra High during his team’s State Southern Regional Division I playoff game with Santa Margarita, he’s among the upper-tier among basketball prospects in the class, as well.

The 6-foot-1 Turner scored 30 points – three of them via a 41-foot, buzzer-beating, game-winner – in the Mustangs’ gut-twisting 57-54 victory over the Eagles.

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