Southern Section Boys’ Basketball Playoffs : No. 1 Mater Dei, Ocean View Share 5-A Bracket

Mater Dei High School basketball Coach Gary McKnight never hesitated. When asked which team he feared the most in the upcoming Southern Section 5-A playoffs, he quickly replied: “Ocean View. They’re rolling right now.”

The Seahawks (17-6) were placed in the same bracket with defending 5-A champion Mater Dei (24-1) when the playoffs were announced on Sunday in Cerritos. As expected, Mater Dei is seeded No. 1, Long Beach Millikan No. 2 and Marina No. 3.

The big surprise is that Ocean View, which finished second in the Sunset League, is seeded No. 4. The Seahawks could conceivably meet Mater Dei in the semifinals on March 4 in the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

Ocean View, thought by many to be the second-best team in Orange County behind Mater Dei, opened play in the Sunset League with a mediocre 1-3 record. But the Seahawks won six straight games to finish second and earn the fourth seed.

“They were 1-3 and then they woke up,” McKnight said. “They gave us all we could handle when we played them.”

Mater Dei needed two overtimes to defeat Ocean View, 53-48, two weeks ago. Ocean View Coach Jim Harris said the game was a turning point for his team.

“After the Mater Dei game, we knew we could win,” Harris said. “This is the most unemotional team I’ve ever coached. They needed to get fired up, and it finally happened once they had their backs against the wall.”

Harris pointed to his team’s 20-2 advantage in offensive rebounds over Mater Dei as an important gauge in comparing the teams.

“The biggest difference between Mater Dei and everybody else is LeRon Ellis,” Harris said. “They’ve got a 6-11 center and nobody else does. Whenever they need a big defensive play or a basket, LeRon always comes through.”

Mater Dei, which has advanced to the division’s championship game four consecutive years, opens against Fountain Valley at 7:30 on Friday night at Rancho Santiago College. Ocean View plays host to Bishop Amat (17-9).

Third-seeded Marina (21-4) plays host to Loyola (15-9), and Viking Coach Steve Popovich said center Mark Georgeson and forward Steve Guild are doubtful for the game. Both missed the last week of the regular season.

“They were both tested for mononucleosis, and we should know more on Monday,” Popovich said. “Georgeson has lost 12 pounds since he got sick two weeks ago.”

As expected, St. Paul (13-8) received the at-large entry and will meet host Long Beach Millikan (21-3) in the first round. St. Paul finished tied with Bishop Amat for third place in the Angelus League.

Several perennial powers were missing when the playoffs were announced. Long Beach Poly, Verbum Dei, St. Bernard and Serra all failed to qualify.

Poly missed the playoffs for the first time since 1974, while Verbum Dei failed to qualify for the first time since 1967. Serra was the runner-up to Mater Dei in the division last year and had four starters returning this season.

4-A DIVISION

El Toro celebrated its first league title in the school’s 13-year existence Friday night. So even the news that the Chargers (19-8) had been paired with perennial power Dominguez (21-4) in the first round of the 4-A playoffs couldn’t dim the enthusiasm of Coach Tim Travers on Sunday.

“We had never finished higher than third in league play, so it was a big night for us on Friday,” Travers said. “We couldn’t have gotten a tougher No. 2 team than Dominguez, but at least we have a home game.”

The pairing is a rematch of the biggest victory in El Toro’s basketball history. The Chargers upset Dominguez, 54-52, in the first round of the 1984 playoffs when Scott Shockey made two free throws with three seconds remaining.

The upset snapped Dominguez’s 28-game winning streak on its home court, and eliminated second-seeded Dominguez from the playoffs. Don Coach Ernie Carr said he hasn’t forgotten the game.

“Hopefully, we can return the favor,” he said. “We haven’t been playing well lately and we’re not shooting well. We had one of our best starts ever (10-0), but then we didn’t improve the way I thought we would.”

The playoff grouping committee apparently didn’t think too highly of the South Coast League. Capistrano Valley, the league’s No. 1 representative, was the only school in the 32-team division that was matched against a No. 2 team, Damien. All other No. 1 teams were paired against No. 3 teams.

Mission Viejo, the third-place team in the league, has the less-than-enviable draw of playing at Lynwood (19-5) in the first round.

As expected, Simi Valley (24-1) is seeded No. 1 followed by Muir (19-3), Santa Barbara (20-2) and Glendale (20-3). Muir and Glendale are members of the Pacific League. Muir defeated Simi Valley for the 4-A title last year.

3-A DIVISION

Katella, making its 21st consecutive appearance in the playoffs, is the No. 2 seed in the 3-A division behind top-seeded Rolling Hills. The Knights (23-2) will play host to the winner of Wednesday night’s wild-card game between Saugus and Hart.

Corona del Mar (21-6) is seeded fourth and plays host to surprising Sonora (11-14) in the first round. Sonora upset league champion Fullerton in the Freeway League Tournament to qualify for the playoffs.

In the one of the most interesting matchups involving county teams, Valencia (18-5) plays at Kennedy (17-7) in a rematch of the Santiago Tournament’s championship game. Valencia defeated Kennedy, 47-46, in the first meeting.

Two other good, all-county matchups are Troy (18-7) against Brea-Olinda (17-8) and Magnolia (18-5) against University (17-8).

University qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1978 by defeating Saddleback, 71-67, in three overtime periods. The unlikely hero for the Trojans was junior David Warren, who made four free throws in the third overtime to clinch the victory.

Warren was a member of University’s junior varsity until Friday. He suited up for the Trojans’ JV game but didn’t play, which allowed him to compete in the varsity game.

“I grabbed him off the bench in the fourth quarter of the JV game once we clinched the league title so no one would be tempted to play him,” University Coach Steve Scoggin said.

2-A DIVISION

Woodbridge Coach Bill Shannon was hoping to get a wild-card opponent in the first round of the 2-A playoffs, and he got his wish. Only problem is that Shannon will have to drive to El Centro on Wednesday night to scout the Bloomington-Central matchup.

“I don’t want to drive to El Centro, but we have to go,” Shannon said. “I haven’t seen most of the teams in the division because it’s so geographically spread out.”

One team that Shannon did scout was Walnut, league champion of the Valle Vista League. The Warriors (20-5) figure to meet Walnut (18-4) in the second round.

Trabuco Hills (18-5) plays host to Edgewood (17-7) in the Mustangs’ first-ever playoff game. Laguna Hills (13-11) meets host La Mirada (7-13) in a wild-card game Wednesday with the winner facing second-seeded Blair (19-5) in the first round.

1-A DIVISION

Whittier Christian, winner of 23 consecutive games, is the top-seeded team in the 1-A division. The Heralds (23-1) host the winner of Wednesday night’s St. Bonaventure-Pasadena Poly wild-card game on Friday night.

Crossroads was seeded second, and the Roadrunners are expected to meet Whittier Christian for the 1-A championship for the second straight year. Crossroads handed Whittier Christian its only loss last season, 70-61.