February 2009 Archives

There weren't really many upsets in tonight's CIF Southern Section boy's basketball playoffs.

As I anticipated, Mater Dei and Riverside Martin Luther King will play for the IAA title next Saturday in the Honda Center, while another set of No. 1 and 2 seeds, Thousand Oaks and Leuzinger, hook up in the IIAA game.

Loyola knocked off La Mirada (an upset from my perspective) while top-seed Eisenhower beat Damien so it's the No.'s 1 (Eisenhower) and 3 (Loyola) hooking up for the IIA crown in Anaheim.

It's an all-O.C. affair in IIIAA where Santa Margarita and Canyon play.

Gahr, which I watched handle Golden Valley, takes on Harvard-Westlake in the IIIA game in the Honda Center.

Ocean View and Inglewood (IVAA) are expected to play in the IVAA final at either Colony High or Mater Dei.

Chaminade (led by Long Beach State signee Jules Montgomery) faces L.A. Price in the IVA game (also at Colony or Mater Dei).

A dinner honoring the 33-year career at Paramount High of Roy Ward will be held on March 6 at Sara's Mexican Bar and Grill (11600 Rosecrans Blvd. in Norwalk), according to the school's athletic director, Mark Kemp.
Ward retired on Jan. 30 after serving 33 years as the school's athletic department trainer and equipment manager.
All former Paramount athletes and coaches are invited. For more information, contact Kemp at (562) 602-6067 or visit www.piratesathletics@onlinesports.com.

This just in, courtesy another text from Gahr High boys' basketball coach Bob Becker:
The Gladiators' semifinal IIIA playoff game with Golden Valley will be played Friday night (7:30) at Cerritos College, instead of Artesia High, which was the plan earlier today.

Here we go . . . not quite all of them but here are the majority of the sites for the CIF Southern Section basketball semifinals:

IAA
Mater Dei vs. Etiwanda at A.B. Miller High (Fontana)
Dominguez vs. Martin Luther King at Rancho Verde High (Moreno Valley)

IIAA
Marina vs. Thousand Oaks at Westlake High (Westlake Village)
Leuzinger vs. Glendora at Damien High (La Verne)

IIA
Eisenhower vs. Damien at Glendora High
La Mirada vs. Loyola at El Camino College

IIIA
Golden Valley vs. Gahr at Cerritos College

IVAA
Bishop Montgomery vs. Inglewood at Morningside High
Serra vs. Ocean View at Mater Dei High

VA
Buckley vs. Windward at Crossroads High
La Verne Lutheran vs. CAMS at Cabrillo High

How did the Dons edge Poly, 52-49, despite going nine of 26 from the free-throw line, committing 16 turnovers and hitting just 19 of 54 shots from the field Tuesday night in Ron Palmer Pavilion?

The Dons forced 15 turnovers themselves, did a solid job of pressuring jump shooters and dominated the offensive glass.

Dominguez might have had 20 offensive rebounds but may have converted only two or three of them into buckets. if nothing else, it helped the Dons dominate the time of possession.

The Dons are going to have to a whole heck of a lot better in order to get out of Riverside County with a win over Martin Luther King in a Friday night semifinal.

Here's a quick rundown on the Friday semifinal matches in boys' CIF Southern Section hoops action. Game sites are likely to be determined sometime Wednesday but the second team listed in each match will be the "host" (game must be played at a "neutral" site in the host team's general geographic vicinity).

IAA
Mater Dei vs. Etiwanda
Dominguez vs. Martin Luther King (at JW North in Riverside?)

IIAA
Marina vs. Thousand Oaks
Leuzinger vs. Glendora

IIA
Eisenhower vs. Damien
La Mirada vs. Loyola

IIIA
Golden Valley vs. Gahr (probably at Cerritos High)
Sonora vs. Harvard-Westlake

IVA
Bishop Montgomery vs. Inglewood
Serra vs. Ocean View

VA
Buckley vs. Windward
L.A. Lutheran vs. CAMS

In front of a packed and sweltering crowd, Dominguez edged host Poly, 52-49.

I'll update with more details when I get home!

Karen Hamilton, the mother of basketball standout Jordan Hamilton, confirmed minutes ago that her son had lost his appeal to State CIF Commissioner Marie Ishida to overturn the CIF Southern Section's ruling denying him an exception to the national eight-semester rule and ending his high school career.

That means that the 6-foot-7 Hamilton, who helped lead Dominguez High to a Southern Section championship last spring and hasn't played this season for the Dons while trying to gain his eligibility, will not play for the Dons in their IAA quarterfinal at Poly High tonight.

It was a rough and tumble Friday night (say good-bye to Los Alamitos, Jordan and Wilson) in the second round of CIF Southern Section boys' hoops playoff action.

Here is a look at some of Tuesday's quarterfinal matchups:

IAA
Upper Bracket
Rancho Verde at Mater Dei
Lynwood at Etiwanda
Lower Bracket
Dominguez at Poly
Redlands at Riverside Martin Luther King

IIAA
Lower Bracket
Valencia (near Magic Mountain) at Leuzinger

IIA
Upper Bracket
Eisenhower at Loara
Damien at Mayfair
Lower Bracket
SImi Valley at Loyola
La Mirada at Ayala

IIIA
Upper Bracket
Hart at Canyon (Anaheim)
Palm Springs at Nogales
Lower Bracket
Santa Margarita at North Torrance
St. John Bosco at Arroyo Grande

IIIA
Upper Bracket
Gahr at Diamond Ranch
Foothill at Golden Valley
Lower Bracket
Bonita at Harvard-Westlake
Sonora at Apple Valley

IVAA
Upper Bracket
Atascadero at Bishop Montgomery
Northview at Inglewood
Lower Bracket
Ocean View at San Luis Obispo
Centennial at Serra

Coin flips to determine hosts for some of the Friday night second-round boys' basketball playoff games were just held moments ago at the CIF Southern Section office in Los Alamitos.

Among the coin flip winners were Poly (will host Pasadena in the IAA), Rancho Verde (Jordan will have to travel to Moreno Valley to play this team in a IAA game), Jurupa Valley (plays host to Mayfair in the IIA), La Mirada (gets to host Yucaipa in the IIA), Centennial (hosts Lompoc in the IVAA) and Serra (hosts South El Monte in the IVAA).

Here is a partial schedule of the second-round games Friday night (also scheduled for 7:30 starts until you read/hear differently)

IAA
Upper Bracket
Mater Dei at Upland
Jordan at Rancho Verde
Etiwanda at Dana Hills
Los Alamitos at Lynwood
Lower Bracket
Dominguez at Hesperia
Pasadena at Poly
Colony at Redlands
Martin Luther King at Wilson

IIA
Upper Bracket
Mayfair at Jurupa Valley
Lower Bracket
Yucaipa at La Mirada

IIIAA
Upper Bracket
Nogales at West Torrance
Lower Bracket
North Torrance at Western
Campbell Hall at St. John Bosco

IIIA
Upper Bracket
Palm Desert at Gahr

IVAA
Upper Bracket
St. Francis at Bishop Montgomery
Inglewood at JSerra
Lower Bracket
Lompoc at Centennial
South El Monte at Serra

IVA
Lower Bracket
Santa Clara at Valley Christian

VAA
Lower Bracket
St. Paul at Verbum Dei
St. Anthony at Downey Calvary Chapel
Linfield Christian at Morningside

VA
Lower Bracket
CAMS at Valley Torah (Saturday, 7:45 p.m.)

The Lakewood High baseball program will hold its annual alumni game Saturday morning at 11 o'clock at Lakewood High.
Alumni interested in playing should contact Lancers' coach Spud O'Neil at 562/997-8000, extension 3251.

Oscar Talk: I saw ``The Wrestler'' with Mickey Rourke on Saturday, along with ``The Reader'' with Kate Winslet.
I didn't buy the relationships between Rourke's character with the ``stripper with a heart of gold'' (portrayed by Marisa Tomei) and his daughter (portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood).
But all of the actual wrestling scenes were incredible.
``The Reader'' was a bit better than I anticipated and Winslet, as always, was marvelous.
So, without further adieu . . .
Winslet will bag Best Actress (for her roles in The Reader and the un-nominated Revolutionary Road) and Sean Penn will win his second Best Actor hardware (for Milk, but just barely over Frank Langella's mesmerizing turn as Richard Nixon in Frost-Nixon).
The late Heath Ledger will get the Best Supporting Actor nod (for the otherwise mildly overrated Dark Knight) over Philip Seymour Hoffman (Doubt), while Doubt's Viola Davis (Wow! She was devastatingly effective) should get the Best Supporting Actress kudos.
Danny Boyle should be a busy lad Sunday night accepting Best Director honors and being part of the crew that is called to the stage when Slumdog Millionaire gets the Best Picture Oscar.

In the IVAA division, Bishop Montgomery, Serra, Ocean View and Inglewood were seeded 1-4.

Centennial, the 8 seed, plays host to Gladstone Wednesday night.

In the IVA division, Orange Lutheran is the No. 1 seed, followed by L.A. Price, Crespi and Laguna Beach.

Valley Christian got in as an at-large entry from the Olympic League and will play at Costa Mesa.

Whitney, which finished third in the Academy League, is at Cathedral.

Those bracket sheets are coming out faster than the pancakes at the Hof's Hut around the corner of the CIF Southern Section office in Los Alamitos . . .

In the IIIAA division, Norwalk (which got into the field as an at-large entry from the Suburban League) plays at No. 13 seed South Hills Wednesday night, while St. John Bosco (an at-large team from the Trinity League) is at Rio Mesa.

In the IIIA division, Cerritos was the No. 7 seed but must play at Apple Valley since the Dons was the No. 3 team out of the Suburban League.

Gahr, an at-large entry via the San Gabriel Valley League, plays at Monrovia.

In the IIAA division, Artesia (which finished fourth in the Suburban League) was the only area squad in the field, and had a road game against Canyon Springs Wednesday night.

In the IIA division, La Mirada was the No. 2 seed with Suburban co-champion Mayfair the No. 5 seed.

La Mirada plays host to Saugus on Wednesday night while Mayfair is at home to Camarillo.

Compton (which finished sixth in the Moore League) got at at-large bid and will play at No. 6 seed Simi Valley Wednesday night.

Here you go . . . the CIF Southern Section boys basketball playoff bracket for the IAA division . . . since the four at-large selections (including Millikan and Downey) made it a 32-team field, first-round games will be played on Wednesday night, followed by second-round games on Friday, quarterfinals on Feb. 24, semifinals on Feb. 27 and the championship game (in the Honda Center) on March 7.

Mater Dei, Martin Luther King, Dominguez and Los Alamitos were the top four seeds.

Here are games Wednesday games involving area teams:
UPPER BRACKET
Bell Gardens at Jordan
Paramount at Rancho Verde
Lakewood at Etiwanda
Lynwood at Palmdale
Millikan at Los Alamitos
LOWER BRACKET
Dominguez at A.B. Miller
Montebello at Poly
Wilson at Oxnard
Downey at Martin Luther King

All games are scheduled for 7:30 tipoffs

Potential second-round games include Poly-Pasadena, Jordan-Rancho Verde, Lynwood-Los Alamitos, Wilson-MLK.

My guess is that most of your weren't in the Student Events Center Wednesday night to watch the Long Beach State men's basketball game against UC Riverside.

And most of your missed a whopper game.

UCR won in double overtime, 73-70, and it was a game that the 49ers had several chances to win.

The 49ers' freshmen continued to dominate the scoring for the 49ers, getting 51 of their points (including a career-high 25 points by Larry Anderson) but those same first-year players made several crucial turnovers, in regulation and in the extra periods, to help the hosts pull it out.

That was a toughie for Coach Dan Monson's team, which doesn't play again until taking on Cal State Fullerton in Titan Gym on Feb. 18.

This just in . . .

The Long Beach State men's basketball team's BracketBuster game with Wisconsin-Green Bay on Feb. 21 in the Walter Pyramid will tip off at 2:30 p.m. and be televised nationally by ESPNU.

The 49ers play two Big West Conference games before then, traveling to UC Riverside Wednesday night and Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 18.

In the last post I mentioned offensive lineman Xavier Su's-Filo as possibly being UCLA's "most high profile" recruit in this class.

I should have called him "possibly UCLA's most high profile signee today".

Tight end Morrell Presley, the former Carson High standout who was No. 5 in the Best in the West voting, is already enrolled at UCLA.

UCLA just got another letter of intent from a player who will most likely end up as its most high profile recruit.

Offensive tackle Xavier Su'a-Filo (Provo, Utah, Timpview), No. 8 in the Best in the West balloting, just signed with the Bruins, turning down USC, Utah (considered the favorite) and BYU, among others, in the process.

That gives the Bruins two BIW offensive linemen in Sua-Filo and Stanley Hasiak.

The Trojans may have lost Best in the West linebackers Manti Te'o (to Notre Dame) and Vontaze Burfict (to Arizona State) but they're making up for those loses somewhat via recruiting success in the south.

Earlier this morning they landed outside linebacker Frankie Telfort Jr. (Miami) and they just bagged another in 6-3, 226-pound Jarvis Jones (Columbus, Ga., Carver).

Jones had narrowed his choices to Florida, Georgia, Texas and LSU before opting to go way, way west..

That's an impressive get.

The Trojans just learned that another top-flight safety, Juwanza Starling (Tallahassee, Fla., Lincoln) has signed one of their national letters of intent.

So that means they have four of the best safety prospects in America headed their way this summer.

And does that mean that one or two of them will be moved to cornerback?

Do one or two of them become wide receivers?

Hey, that's why Pete Carroll gets the big buckets. He can figure those things out.

Tight end Billy Sanders (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Lake City) "committed" to UCLA last month after "committing" to the University of Miami several months ago.

This morning he "signed" with the Hurricanes.

Don't you love this day?

UCLA turned the table on Pacific 10 Conference foe Cal this morning.

Stanley Hasiak, who offensive lineman from Kapolei in Hawaii who was No. 19 in the Best in the West balloting, signed with the Bruins.

Hasiak committed to UCLA in the fall, "decommitted" and said last month that he would sign with the Golden Bears.

But, as we are being reminded this a.m., "committment" doesn't mean anything until it's accompanied by a "signature" on a national letter of intent!

It had been an upbeat morning for the USC football program but the Trojans just got jolted.

Linebacker Manti Te'o of Honolulu Punahou who was No. 2 on the Best in the West team, just announced on ESPU that he is signing with Notre Dame after narrowing his choices to the Irish and Trojans.

That all but buries any chance the Trojans had of finishing No. 1 nationally in the various recruiting ratings.

An hour and a half after snatching Byron Moore away from Notre Dame, the Trojans landed another biggie when standout linebacker/safety Frankie Telfort Jr. (Miami Gulliver Prep) announced on ESPNU that the is signing with USC instead of his two other finalists, Florida and Stanford.

That takes some of the sting out of (apparently) losing Vontaze Burfict to Arizona State.

The No. 2 prospect on the Best in the West team, linebacker Mant Te'o, will announce within the hour and most expect him to announce for the Trojans over Notre Dame and UCLA.

After "decommitting" from USC last week, Narbonne High's Byron Moore reversed his recruiting field again (originally, he "committed" to UCLA) and just announced, via ESPNU, that he is signing with the Trojans.

Moore was No. 11 in the balloting for the Press-Telegram's 33rd Best in the West team.

But, according to the Daily News' Scott Wolf, another BIW selection long "committed" to USC, Corona Centennial linebacker Vontaze Burfict, is expected to sign with Arizona State today.

The addition of Moore to the USC fold means the Trojans will and three of the top half-dozen safeties in the country. The letters of intent from two more BIW selections, Tim McDonald (Fresno Edison/No. 6) and Patrick Hall (Ventura St. Bonaventure/No. 7) are expected in the USC football office shortly.

And, according to Wolf, another early USC "commitment", South Carolina wide receiver Alshon Jeffery, signed with the in-state "USC", aka, "The University of South Carolina".

In case you haven't already perused it, by way of the print version of today's Press-Telegram or the website, here is the link to the spot on the PT website where you can find the entire package of stories and charts and pictures for the 33rd edition of the Press-Telegram's Best in the West football team:

http://www.presstelegram.com/biw

You'll enjoy it!