Frank Burlison

LONG BEACH, Ca. – Southern California, as collection of geographic entities, will be well represented in the boys’ basketball championship games in Sacramento next weekend.

Los Angeles County (Torrance Bishop Montgomery, in the Open, and San Pedro Rolling Hills Estates, in Division V) will send two teams; Riverside County (Eastvale Roosevelt, in Division I) is sending one; Orange County (Anaheim Esperanza, in Division II, and Villa Park, Division III) is home to two; and San Diego County (La Mesa Helix, Division IV) will ship one north next weekend.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Saturday in the Long Beach State Pyramid will be a case of basketball déjà vu or, for you Bill Murray fans out there, Basketball Groundhog Day.

Top-ranked (via the BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25) Torrance Bishop Montgomery and No. 2 Santa Ana Mater Dei earned a Saturday rematch Tuesday night with their respective wins in the State Southern Open Regional semifinal games.

Bishop Montgomery spurted in the final five minutes to knock off the Monarchs (70-55), in the March 4 CIF Southern Section Open Division championship game in the Anaheim Honda Center.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – It will be “Rematch Tuesday Night” during semifinal action of the State Southern Regional boys basketball playoffs.

*In an Open Division semifinal, host Mater Dei (No. 2 in the updated BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25) takes on No. 8 St. Augustine for the third time – courtesy the Saints’ upset of Sierra Canyon Friday night in Chatsworth.

The Monarchs beat St. Augustine in the Dec. 3 championship game of the Mission Viejo Diablo Inferno Tournament and then knocked off the Saints again during the February Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei.

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MISSION HILLS, CA – The third time proved quite charming for the Studio City Harvard-Westlake boys’ basketball team Saturday night at Alemany.

The Wolverines lost to Alemany twice in Mission League play, where the Warriors went unbeaten.

But, despite trailing by 11 points after the first quarter Saturday night in a State Southern Regional Division II quarterfinal, Coach David Rebibo’s club finally overcame its Mission League rival, 72-64.

The win moved the Wolverines into another “rematch”, this one on Tuesday night at home against Pasadena in a Division II regional semifinal.

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ONTARIO, Ca. – Things went pretty much as expected Friday night in the opening round of the California Southern Regional boys basketball action.

“Pretty much”, though, didn’t extend to Chatsworth in the San Fernando Valley.

That’s where the host Sierra Canyon Trailblazers – the top-ranked team in not only California, but in all of the U.S. of A for a healthy hunk of the season – were stunned in the only upset of the night.

Saint Augustine, which captured the San Diego Open Division crown Saturday night with a narrow win over Torrey Pines, broke out to an 18-point lead at intermission and then held off Sierra Canyon, 88-81.

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