Frank Burlison

LOS ANGELES – The “next man up” approach was in full effect Saturday night at Westchester High during the first-round L.A. City Open Division playoff game between defending champion Birmingham and the host Comets.

Six-foot-three junior Jordan Brinson – arguably Westchester’s best all-around player – stood with his back against a wall behind the basket as his teammates warmed up 20 minutes before the 7 o’clock scheduled tip-off.

He wasn’t in uniform and – even if he decides to put on a uniform – he won’t be playing for the Comets during their trek for a City crown and deep run into the State Open Division tournament.

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DIAMOND BAR, Ca. – Six-foot-three junior Jaden Shackelford came into the Friday night CIF Southern Section 2A second-round playoff game at Diamond Ranch High averaging about 23 points during the 13 games he had played since becoming eligible for the Hesperia Scorpions on Jan. 2.

The left hander missed five of the seven shots he attempted while scoring just four points in the first half against the host the Panthers.

But teammates Ken Evans and Antonio Singleton combined for 17 points to keep the Scorpions up by a point at intermission – after which Shackelford finally freeing himself from the face-guarding defense of the hosts’ Garrett Parker and pulled away for a 66-59 victory.

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LA VERNE, Ca. – The second Classic at Damien was the best post-Christmas high school basketball tournament in the western U.S.

Here are some of the reasons why, courtesy the CIF Southern and L.A. City Section playoff brackets:

*Four of the programs that participated in the 16-team Platinum Bracket (champion Etiwanda, along with third-place Santa Margarita, fourth-place St. John Bosco and consolation champion Rancho Christian) were selected to the Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division bracket.

Two other Platinum squads, Birmingham and Taft, are in the eight-team L.A.

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SAN PEDRO – A first-round victory in the CIF Southern Section 4A playoffs Wednesday night earned the Mary Star of the Sea boys’ basketball team a two-hour, 93-mile bus ride to the California High Desert Friday.

The Stars outlasted Newport Beach’s Sage Hill, 70-60, behind a 30-point performance from 6-foot-4 junior Joseph Octave, to improve to 23-5.

Coach Mike Sestich’s squad will make the Friday trip to Phelan to place the host Serrano High Diamondbacks, who knocked off Jurupa Hills Wednesday night, 81-59.

The Stars burst to a 6-0 advantage against Sage Hill (which was to drop to 10-17), Octave scoring four of those points as the result of two of his eventual nine steals.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – The CIF Southern Section’s eight-team Open Division playoff bracket was unveiled Saturday at the section’s office in Los Alamitos.

During the first four seasons of the Open Division, a 16-team bracket was employed.

The change to an eight-team field was made, in very large part, to increase the strength of Division I (which was strengthened even more so in that it was consolidated from I-AA and I-A brackets).

Are you curious how the 2018 Open field might have presented itself in its previous 16-team parameter?

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