Top-Rated Mater Dei Will Meet Verbum Dei in First-Round Playoffs

Mater Dei, Glendale, Pomona, Santa Clara, Chadwick and Temple Christian of Ventura are the top-seeded teams in their respective divisions for the Southern Section basketball playoffs, which begin Friday.

Led by 6-7 Tom Lewis (31.7 points and 11.8 rebounds) and 6-6 Mike Mitchell (14.1 points), Mater Dei (25-0) will play host to Verbum Dei (12-11), an at-large entry from the Camino Real League, in a first round game in the new 5-A Division. The Monarchs have been The Times’ No. 1 team since the start of the season.

In other games involving seeded teams in the 5-A, Ocean View (second seeded at 21-3) plays St. Francis (11-12), third-seeded Long Beach Poly (the defending 4-A champion with a 17-7 mark this season) plays host to Servite (10-13) and Serra (19-5) meets Westminster (8-14). A Poly win coupled with a St. Anthony (17-5) victory over Alemany (18-7) in another first round game at Alemany would mean an attractive quarterfinal matchup March 1. St. Anthony lost a coin flip to Serra to determine the fourth seed.

Glendale, The Times’ second-ranked team, is top seeded in Class 4-A and will look to improve its record to 24-0 Friday at home against Hawthorne (8-10). Second-seeded Santa Monica (18-4) plays Gahr (14-11), while the top two finishers in the San Gabriel Valley League, No. 3 Dominguez (19-4) and No. 4 Lynwood (23-1), meet Redondo (15-9) and 14-6 Oxnard, respectively.

In the 3-A Division, top-seeded Pomona (21-3), led by 6-8 senior forward Ron Draper (21.3 points and 12.5 rebounds a game), plays host to Leuzinger (15-9). No. 2 Hacienda Heights Wilson (20-4) plays 13-10 Garden Grove, third-seeded Morningside (18-4) gets Canyon of Canyon Country (15-9) and Brea-Olinda (22-4) plays host to Whittier (16-6).

Top-seeded Santa Clara, which dominated the 1-A division before moving up to 2-A last year, goes into the playoffs with a 22-3 mark, and opens Friday with Chaminade (9-13). The Saints are led by two 18-point scorers--swingman Stacey Cvijanovich and guard James Gama.

South Pasadena (22-2) is the second-seeded team in the 2-A and will meet Baldwin Park (12-9), while No. 3 San Bernardino (23-3) entertains the winner of the Yucaipa-Palo Verde wild-card game and Cabrillo (19-4) plays Righetti (13-8).

Chadwick (22-2) was named the top team in 1-A and will meet the winner of the Paraclete-Buckley wild card game. The Dolphins are followed in the seedings by Montclair Prep (21-1), which will meet the winner of the Flintridge Prep-Aquinas game; Serrano (21-1), which plays Ontario Christian (13-10), and Whittier Christian (18-4), which will play host to the winner of the Desert-Pasadena Poly match.)

In the Small Schools, Temple Christian (18-2) gets at-large entry Cate (14-5), second-seeded Hesperia Christian (17-2) entertains 12-11 Rosamond, No. 3 Silver Valley (13-7) plays Needles (14-5) and Heritage (18-5) meets Claremont of Garden Grove (9-10).

Wild card games matching San Gorgonio (17-7) and Hemet (14-9) in the 4-A; Valencia (14-9) and Rowland (12-12) in the 3-A; Monrovia (12-7) and La Mirada (7-11), Yucaipa (10-11) and Palo Verde (13-6) and Arroyo (11-14) and South Hills (11-9) in the 2-A; and Paraclete (15-6) and Buckley (17-5), Desert (14-5) and Pasadena Poly (8-13), Crossroads of Santa Monica (15-8) and L.A. Lutheran (14-9), Brethren (13-10) and Fillmore (9-14) and Flintridge Prep (12-10) and Aquinas (14-8) in the 1-A will all be played Wednesday.

The Small Schools championship game will be played March 8 at a neutral site while the other divisions will be decided March 9 at the Long Beach Arena.