Southern Section Basketball Playoffs : Balanced Long Beach Poly Offense Ends St. Paul Bid

It’s safe to say that this is not what St. Paul High School of Santa Fe Springs waited 19 years for.

The Swordsmen were making their first appearance in the basketball playoffs in nearly two decades. They met a Long Beach Poly team Friday night that more than lived up to its billing as the No. 3-seeded team in the 5-A Division. The host Jackrabbits got double-figure scoring from four starters to win, 89-59, in a first-round Southern Section game at Poly.

The front line of Osei Appiah, Chris Roscoe and Roy Wade scored 11, 12 and 15 points, respectively, for Poly (18-7). Wade also had 13 rebounds.

John Scott had 21 points, and Matt Willig added 19 for St. Paul (12-10).

The Jackrabbits advanced to next Friday’s quarterfinals against Huntington Beach Edison, a 69-55 winner over Verbum Dei at Edison. It was the second straight year that the Eagles (17-9) lost in the first round. Edison, which entered the playoffs as the No. 1 representative out of the Sunset League when Huntington Beach Ocean View was declared ineligible, is 16-9.

4-A DIVISION--When North of Riverside and Santa Ana Saddleback met in the Irvine Tournament earlier in the season, North won by just a point, 58-57. But Friday night, the Huskies, the fourth-seeded team in the playoffs, had a much easier time, winning, 77-55, at home.

North is 26-1 while Saddleback ended the season 14-13.

Glendale, which went undefeated and won the title last season, was knocked out in the first round as host Simi Valley got its first playoff win in 20 years, 67-56, with sophomore center Don MacLean scoring a game-high 22 points.

“I think the people outside the program made a bigger deal of it than us,” Simi Valley Coach Bob Hawking said. “I never felt like there was a monkey on our backs.”

Senior Mike Hankins added 19 points and the Pioneers’ other standout sophomore, Shawn DeLaittre, had 14 to put Simi Valley, The Times’ eighth-ranked team, into the second round against Santa Ana, a 57-54 winner over Redlands. Glendale, which got 20 points from Steve Acton, ended the season 14-10.

Culver City (22-3) wasn’t able to contain Southern Section scoring champion Harvey Mason of Crescenta Valley, who finished with 30 points, but the Centaurs, who had a six-point lead at halftime, held on at home, 66-58, with the help of 16 points from Henry Johnson and 18 rebounds from John Jones. Crescenta Valley is 17-8.

Santa Monica, the second-seeded team in the playoffs and The Times’ No. 3 team overall in the Southern Section, raised its record to 22-3 with a 65-47 win at home over El Toro.

Keith Harris had 20 points and 15 rebounds for the Vikings and his brother, Kelvin Harris, added 12. El Toro finished 14-12.

The other two seeded teams in the division, No. 1 Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo and No. 4 Pasadena Muir, also won handily. Stacey Augmon scored 30 points to lead Muir (24-2) past Downey Warren (14-10), 60-48, while Capo Valley (25-2) beat Redondo of Redondo Beach (9-14), 72-44.

At San Gorgonio of San Bernardino, the Spartans trailed by 15 with 5:05 left in the game, but rallied with 33 fourth-quarter points to beat Moreno Valley, 79-78, as Rodney Moten scored from close range with four seconds remaining.

Moten had 25 points to lead San Gorgonio (22-3). Moreno Valley, which got 28 points from Artie Hall, is 19-8.

2-A DIVISION--Junior Steve Ward hit 16 of 18 shots from the floor to finish with a game-high 36 points as Calabasas, despite being out-scored, 42-33, in a high-scoring fourth quarter, beat St. Joseph of Santa Maria, 99-94, at Calabasas.