Frank Burlison

SANTA ANA, Ca. – Two rounds into pool play, only two of the eight teams in the CIF Southern Section Boys’ Basketball Open Division field have been eliminated from a spot in the June 11 championship game.

Top-seed Sierra Canyon (82-70, after trailing by 17 points in the second quarter) and No. 4 Etiwanda (48-46, in a wire-to-wire struggle) toppled Ribet Academy and St. John Bosco, respectively, Tuesday night.

With the Trailblazers and Eagles having won both of their Pool A games, the winner of their game (at Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth) Friday night will advance to the title game.

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CORONA, Ca. – Centennial High’s sophomore class helped get the week in CIF Southern Section Boys’ Basketball playoff action off to a rousing start Memorial Day evening.

Coach Josh Giles’ 10^th graders combined for 58 points to help the host Huskies pull away from the Damien Spartans, 82-69, in an Open Division “Pool B” contest.

The game – like other Open Pool competition and the numerical divisional SS quarterfinals – was scheduled for Tuesday night.

But it was played on Monday because Centennial has graduation festivities in its gymnasium Tuesday.

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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Ca. – On a Friday night when the Trinity Leagues’ 1-2 teams – Mater Dei and St. John Bosco – lost in their CIF Southern Section Open Division pool-play openers, the rest of the league fared quite well in other divisions.

JSerra (65-56 over Santa Clarita Christian), Div. 1; Santa Margarita (82-63 over Palos Verdes) and Orange Lutheran (48-43, vs. Westlake), Div. 2AA; and Servite (71-69, in overtime, vs. Aliso Niguel), Div. 2A, each knocked off visiting opponents in Round of 16 playoff action.

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RIVERSIDE, Ca. – Doug Mitchell’s teams have won six CIF Southern Section and four state title, as well as 20 league championships during his 32 seasons as the boys’ basketball coach at Torrance’s Bishop Montgomery High.

The proof is in the on-court results – he, his staff and players crank out quality teams, year after year.

Oh, yeah – those teams improve over the course of a season.

What you see in late November or December isn’t likely what you’re going to see of the Knights in February and March.

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LA HABRA, Ca. – Junior guard Jeremy Dent-Smith scored 23 of his game-high 25 points after intermission Tuesday night to help his Gardena Serra High team overpower the host La Habra Highlanders, 74-60, in a CIF Southern Section Division 2AA opening-round playoff contest.

Coach Bernard McCrumby’s team, which improved to 9-8, made a 27-mile drive on its chartered bus to La Habra High for the contest.

The drive will twice as long Friday — 54 miles, east-bound, to Ontario – and the competition, in theory, considerably tougher by way of the Cavaliers’ second-round opponent.

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