Column: Chino Hills tops list for Southern Section Open Division boys’ basketball
Ethan Thompson (5) and Bishop Montgomery could meet top-seeded Chino Hills and Onyeka Okongwu in the Southern Section Open Division playoffs.
Unbeaten Chino Hills (27-0) heads the list of 16 teams selected for the Southern Section Open Division boys’ basketball playoffs announced on Friday. Final seedings won’t be released until Saturday morning. The rest of the brackets will be released Sunday.
The big surprise was that Montebello Cantwell-Sacred Heart (16-10) was chosen ahead of Chino Hills Ayala (23-3) and Long Beach Poly (17-9) for a tournament that picks the best teams regardless of division.
“I was just as surprised as other people,” Cantwell-Sacred Heart Coach George Zedan said. “I thought for sure Poly would be in.”
Cantwell-Sacred Heart played in the competitive Del Rey League and lost by only eight points to the expected No. 2 seed, Torrance Bishop Montgomery, on Wednesday. Ayala was upset by La Verne Bonita on Thursday night and Poly lost to Compton in a league finale.
Other teams selected were Bishop Montgomery, Mission Hills Alemany, Corona Centennial, Compton, Encino Crespi, La Verne Damien, Inglewood, Los Alamitos, Santa Ana Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran, Redondo, Eastvale Roosevelt, Santa Margarita and Chatsworth Sierra Canyon.
Not announced was which team will be the No. 16 seed and have to play at Chino Hills.
“If someone has to do it, we’d do it,” Zedan said. “The seedings haven’t come out, so we don’t know. We’re excited.”
Ten of the teams were plucked out of Division 1AA, which will severely weaken that bracket.
In Open Division girls, the teams selected were Alemany, Brea Olinda, Cajon, West Hills Chaminade, Etiwanda, Anaheim Fairmont Prep, Studio City Harvard-Westlake, Mater Dei, Westlake Village Oaks Christian, Long Beach Poly, Santa Barbara, Gardena Serra, Sierra Canyon, Fullerton Troy, Vista Murrieta and Los Angeles Windward.
All 32 teams selected earn an automatic berth to the state playoffs, and this season no Southern Section team will be placed lower than Division II in the Southern California Regionals.
Follow Eric Sondheimer on Twitter: @LATSondheimer
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