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LAGUNA NIGUEL – Two days after turning in emphatic performances in wire-to-wire league tournament championship games, the Harvard-Westlake and Eastvale Roosevelt squads were awarded the No.’s 1 and 2 seeds in the eight-team, CIF Southern Section boys’ basketball playoff configuration, announced by the CIF SS administration early Sunday afternoon.

The Open Division (in pool play) begins on Friday night, with the non-Open Division competition first-round play starting Wednesday.

This will be the 11^th season in which the Open Division has set atop the Southern Section playoff pecking order, the first four being played in a 16-team, bracket format.

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CORONA – Brayden Burries and his Eastvale Roosevelt High teammates began their season on Nov. 15, with a game against Birmingham at Westchester High, with exceedingly high expectations – internally and externally.

A little more than two and a half-months later, Coach Steve Singleton’s Mustangs remain on track to fulfilling them.

That was succinctly illustrated Friday night in front of an SRO-only crowd at Santiago High, where Burries – with a 31-point performance – led his team past Corona Centennial, 63-50, in the first-ever Big VIII League tournament title game.

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LA VERNE – The dominating “post presence” that Nate Garcia provided Thursday night was the cornerstone of the Damien High Spartans’ 61-49 victory over visiting Etiwanda – and the outright Baseline League title championship that came with it.

Garcia (pictured), a 7-foot, 255-pound (give or take) junior, scored a layup before missing his second attempt early in the contest played in front of an approximate 2,000.

And then Garcia didn’t miss again unless he was fouled, hitting his final 12 field-goal attempts,  as well as two of three free throws in the fourth quarter, to score 28 points with 11 rebounds as the Spartans improved to 24-4, overall, and 9-1 in Baseline action to secure the program’s first outright title in nine years.

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SHERMAN OAKS – Despite having to cope with the skill of as good a scorer as there is anywhere on the high school scene, the Harvard-Westlake boys’ basketball team took care of its “road” Mission League business Wednesday night.

And, almost immediately after the conclusion of the Wolverines’ 60-56 victory over the host Notre Dame Knights, Coach David Rebibo’s players and coaching staff got a pleasant surprise, too:

Crespi’s 64-61, overtime stunner at Sierra Canyon – the tournament’s No. 1 seed – means that the Wolverines (25-3), which went into the Mission playoff as the No.

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SANTA ANA – Luke Barnett’s jump shooting was a big reason that the Mater Dei High basketball team built an 18-point advantage over the visiting St. John Bosco Braves Tuesday night late in the second quarter of  their Trinity League showdown.

And – lo and behold – it was also the key element in closing out the Monarchs’ 72-66 victory.

The victory gave the Monarchs (25-2 overall and 8-1 in league) no worse than a share of the league title. And it becomes “outright” with a Trinity- and regular season-closing win at Santa Margarita Thursday.

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