Frank Burlison

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – It’s time for the “best vs. the best” with the release of the bracketing in the Northern and Southern Regionals of the California State championships Sunday afternoon.

And, not surprisingly, the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division dominated the seeding in the South.

The South’s eight-team Open Division’s first four seeds come from the Southern Section, with champion Bishop Montgomery followed by runner-up Mater Dei, and Sierra Canyon and Chino Hills, which lost in the semifinals.

The top six seeds in Division I are also from the Southern Section’s Open Division, as are its No.

[Click to continue reading]

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Open Division championships in the Southern, Los Angeles and San Diego sections will be contested for Saturday.

Along with getting three programs title hardware, those games will also help determine the seeding for the eight-team State Southern Regional Open Division playoffs that get underway on March 11.

The most attractive of those Saturday championship games will have the No.’s 1 (Mater Dei) and 2 (Bishop Montgomery) teams in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25 facing off in the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Here is the aforementioned Top 25:

1. Santa Ana Mater Dei/Southern Section Open (3) 31-1

Next up: Saturday, vs.

[Click to continue reading]

LOS ANGELES – The third time proved the “charm” for the Westchester High basketball team Saturday night in the Roybal Learning Center.

As for the “fourth time” for the Taft High squad in the same building and with the same prize at stake . . . not so much.

The Westchester Comets, who had lost two narrow decisions to Fairfax in Western League plays, finally got the Lions in their – and most important – meeting Saturday night, prevailing 66-59 in an L.A. City Open Division semifinal.

[Click to continue reading]

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – In essence, it’s “one-stop shopping” for those wanting to see the four best high school basketball teams in California in a three-hour or so stretch of one night and in one building.

The CIF Southern Section’s administrative decision of a few weeks ago to book the section’s Open Division championship semifinals USC’s Galen Center – with its seating capacity of 10,800 – proved astute Tuesday night when the division’s top four seeds each won their respective second-round games.

The victories set up a Friday night 7 o’clock game between top seed Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (27-1) and No.

[Click to continue reading]

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – History may prove that there were never more compelling Southern California high school basketball games played on one day during this season as then are scheduled for Tuesday

Eight of the first 10 squads in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25 will hook up with one another Tuesday night during the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Open Division while three of the L.A. City Open Division first-round clashes – postponed on Friday for weather-induced reasons – are also scheduled for Tuesday.

In the Southern Section Open contests, top-ranked Sierra Canyon plays host to No.

[Click to continue reading]