Saturday’s state tournament games: Will Damien’s magic continue?

CIF STATE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
BOYS, DIVISION III
No. 7 Damien (26-6) at No. 2 West Hills Chaminade (25-7), 7:30 p.m.

How they got here: In its last game alone, Damien was the victim and beneficiary of a buzzer beater. After a 40-foot bank shot pulled 10th-seeded Tulare Mission Oak even with Damien at the end of regulation, Jeremy Hemsley’s 3-pointer as time expired in overtime gave the Spartans a 74-72 first-round win on Wednesday. Chaminade had no such drama in its 42-point first-round victory.

Matchup: CIF-SS Division 3AA champion Damien will take on a Chaminade team that was the runner-up in CIF-SS Division 3A. Before losing it’s CIF-SS title game by 24 points to St. John Bosco, Chaminade won its previous four playoff games by an average of 37.5 points, a good indication of why it received the No. 2 seed in the state tournament. Damien’s confidence is certainly on the rise after winning a championship and capturing its first-round game in dramatic fashion. It will be interesting to see if Wednesday’s win was the perfect cure for Damien’s championship hangover.

BOYS, DIVISION IV
No. 5 West Hollywood Pacific Hills (25-4) at No. 4 La Verne Lutheran (26-7), 7 p.m.

How they got here: Both of these teams cruised in their first-round games with La Verne Lutheran defeating No. 13 seed Tollhouse Sierra by 43 and Pacific Hills besting 12th-seeded Chowchilla by 34 points.

Matchup: It has been three years since La Verne Lutheran failed to reach at least the regional semifinals of the state tournament. The 2010 and 2011 state champions can make it four seasons in a row with a second-round win tonight over a Pacific Hills team that won the CIF-SS Division 4A championship.

GIRLS, DIVISION I
No. 9 Long Beach Poly (25-5) at No. 1 Etiwanda (28-3), 7 p.m.

How they got here: Etiwanda received a first-round bye while Poly handed eighth-seeded Fairfax a surprisingly lopsided 80-22 shellacking on Wednesday.

Matchup: There was one benefit of Etiwanda’s loss in the CIF-SS Division 1AA championship game. Instead of landing in the Open Division of the state tournament, they are the top seed in Division I. Long Beach Poly eliminated Etiwanda from the playoffs in 2010 and 2012 before losing to the Eagles by 10 in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS playoffs this season.

GIRLS, DIVISION V
No. 5 Mesa Grande Academy (28-3) at No. 4 Sun Valley Village Christian (19-14), 8:30 p.m., Masters College

How they got here: Mesa Grande defeated 12th-seeded Ocean View, 45-24, and Village Christian escaped the first round with a 51-48 victory over No. 13 seed, Rio Hondo Prep.

Matchup: CIF-SS Division 5A champion Mesa Grande, which just won its second title in three years, will face a Village Christian team that had a little trouble recovering from a 72-26 loss in the CIF-SS Division 5AA championship game but did enough to win its first-round game on Wednesday.

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