Southern Section Basketball Playoffs : Keefe Scores 47, Woodbridge Defeats Elsinore

Woodbridge High School of Irvine, the defending Southern Section 2-A Division and state Division II titlist, took the first step in defending both titles Friday night. Make that a big step.

With center Adam Keefe scoring a career-high 47 points and grabbing 22 rebounds, the Warriors (19-5) opened the 1988 playoffs with a 79-61 win over Elsinore. It was the 13th consecutive victory for the South Coast League champions.

Elsinore, the third-place team in the Sunkist League, was led by center Mike Barber, who scored 22 points. Elsinore ends the season at 22-9.

In other first-round Southern Section games:

Glendora 90, San Bernardino San Gorgonio 77--Tracy Murray scored 35 points to lead the Tartans, one of only two undefeated teams left, to the 4-A victory at Glendora.

The Tartans (26-0) took a 28-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. San Gorgonio outscored the Baseline League champions the rest of the game, but never caught up.

San Gorgonio finishes 16-12.

Ventura 65, Beverly Hills 58--In a matchup of two 20-game winners, Jeff Herford scored 21 points and Chris Hatgin added 13 to lead the Cougars to the 4-A win at Beverly Hills.

Ventura is 21-5. Beverly Hills (22-4), which trailed by a point in the third quarter, 53-52, got 24 points from Chris Plummer.

Moreno Valley 105, Santa Ana Valley 75--Chopin Scott had a triple-double--32 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists--and Duke Sutton scored 39 on 16-of-18 shooting to lead Moreno Valley in the 4-A game.

The Vikings (21-4) led by 13 at halftime and increased the lead to 22 at the end of the third quarter. Santa Ana Valley, which was outrebounded, 47-28, is 14-11.

Ventura Buena 99, Inglewood 80--Despite a 46-point performance by Inglewood junior Harold Miner, who scored 26 points in the last quarter, the Bulldogs (22-2) won the 4-A game at Buena.

Jeff Oliver scored 30 points to lead Buena. Inglewood is 13-11.

Rolling Hills 80, Montclair 47--Guard Mark Tesar scored 22 points, and center John Hardy had 17 points and 12 rebounds as the Bay League champion Titans (19-6) routed the Cavaliers (12-13) in the 3-A game at Rolling Hills.

Cypress 61, Montebello 58--Forward Mike Flowers hit a baseline jumper with 45 seconds to play in overtime to lift the Centurions to the 3-A upset at Montebello.

Montebello (16-7) missed two scoring opportunities after Flowers’ basket, missing the ensuing shot and the front end of a one-and-one. Bond Weaver led Cypress (9-15) with 15 points.

Alhambra 55, El Segundo 53--Forward Kent Wang scored 21 points, including two key free throws with four seconds left, to lift the Moors (21-5) to the victory in the 3-A game at Alhambra.

El Segundo is 12-10.

Banning 89, Bellflower 52--The top-seeded and undefeated Broncos (26-0) built a 19-9 lead after the first quarter and routed the Buccaneers (13-10) in the 2-A game at the Banning.

Guard David Efferson led Banning with 19 points, center Dennis Gray had 17 points and 9 rebounds, and 5-foot 6-inch guard Chris Familetti had 10 rebounds and 10 assists.

Bloomington 72, West Covina Edgewood 69--Evric Gray scored 35 points, making 17 of 21 free throws, to pace the Bruins in the 2-A game at Edgewood.

Gray scored 24 of his points in the second half for the Trojans (21-4).

Tonefu Brown had 19 points, and Moses and sophomore Clyde Jordan had 18 each for Edgewood (17-9).

La Canada 66, Keppel 53--The, Spartans, the Rio Hondo League champions, upped their record to 24-2 with the 2-A victory at La Canada as Chad Givens had 24 points and 14 rebounds and Chris Jones added 15 and 12, respectively.

Keppel is 10-13.

Tehachapi 73, Santa Ynez 70--With a defender in his face, Mark Ratekin hit a 28-foot bank shot at the buzzer in overtime to lift the Warriors to the 1-A win at Tehachapi.

Tehachapi in-bounded the ball with three seconds remaining and pushed the ball past the half-court line before Ratekin, who scored 30 in the game, hit the winning shot.

North Hollywood Oakwood 66, Atascadero North County Christian 31--Oakwood, the top-seeded team in the Small Schools, took an early lead and cruised to the easy victory at Campbell Hall North Hollywood.

Junior swingman Mitchell Butler, the Small Schools player of the year last season, scored 31 points and had 17 rebounds for the undefeated Liberty League champions, which increased its record to 10-0 and 21-2 overall.

North County Christian is 12-6.

Trona 67, Big Pine 63--Guard Kim Lear scored 17 points to help the Tornadoes to the upset of the Hi-Lo League champion in the Small Schools game at Big Pine.

Trona, which never trailed and never led by more than 10 points, is 13-8. Guard Darrin Cherrick of Big Pine (16-5) led all scorers with 25.

Carpinteria Cate 69, L.A. Pilgrim 51--Lyman Casey, a junior forward, scored 44 points on 21 of 29 shots from the field and had 12 rebounds to lead the third-seeded Rams (16-2) in the Small Schools game at Cate.

Pilgrim is 14-7.