Frank Burlison

LONG BEACH, Ca. – There was smattering of upsets – some of those of the eye-raising and “oh my goodness” variety – during Wednesday’s first night of the State Southern Regional action in boys basketball.

The most notable of those stunners game in Division I, where a buzzer-beater and near-buzzer beater ended the seasons of No. 6 seed Santa Margarita and No. 7 Foothills Christian, respectively.

In the former, junior Isaiah Morris nailed a 3 at the buzzer to help San Diego Section team Vista trip of host Santa Margarita in two overtimes, 97-94.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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