PREP BASKETBALL : Southern Section Boys Playoffs : Mater Dei Meets Serra; Ocean View Plays L.B. Poly

Mater Dei and Ocean View high schools, the lone remaining Orange County survivors in the Southern Section basketball playoffs, will compete in the 5-A division semifinals in the Long Beach Arena this week.

Top-seeded Mater Dei (27-0) will meet Serra (21-5) Thursday night. Second-seeded Ocean View (23-3) will meet Long Beach Poly (19-7) Wednesday night. Both games are scheduled to begin at 8:45.

In the 4-A division, top-seeded Glendale (26-0) will meet Lynwood (26-1) Wednesday night, and surprising Buena (24-2) faces Dominguez (22-4) Thursday night. Both games are 7 o’clock preliminaries at Long Beach.

Mater Dei scrimmaged Serra before the season began and Cavalier Coach George McDaniel is looking forward to facing Tom Lewis & Co.

“We’ve scouted them all year,” McDaniel said. “I think we can beat them. We have a team tailor-made to play them.”

Ocean View and Poly will be facing each other for the third time this season. The Seahawks defeated Poly in the San Dimas Tournament of Champions and then Poly won the rematch, 71-69, in a nonleague game. Ocean View has won 12 straight games since losing to the Jackrabbits.

Other playoff pairings and sites:

3-A Division

Tuesday: 7:30--Bonita vs. Nogales at Rowland High; Morningside vs. Damien at El Camino College.

2-A Division

Wednesday: 7:30--Santa Clara vs. Agoura at Westlake High; Nordhoff vs. El Monte at Ventura College.

1-A Division

Tuesday: 7:30--Chadwick vs. Whittier Christian at Sonora High; Crossroads vs. Montclair Prep at Santa Monica High.

Small Schools

Tuesday: 7:30--Temple Christian vs. Woodcrest Christian at Ventura High; Needles vs. Hesperia Christian at Twentynine Palms High.