Prep Review : Whistles Whetted Keefe’s Scoring Appetite, and He Responded With 47

Adam Keefe, Woodbridge High School’s All-American center, scores a lot of points. Four times this season he has scored 36 points, a school record.

But even by his standards, he cut loose in a big way Friday against Elsinore in a 79-61 first-round 2-A playoff victory. Keefe scored 47 points--35 in the second half--hitting 21 of 33 attempts from the field. He also collected 22 rebounds.

And Keefe sat out most of the second quarter because of foul trouble.

So what fueled Keefe’s effort?

“Well, I think I got a little frustrated with the refereeing,” Keefe said. “There were some very, very controversial calls made against myself and our team, especially in the first half. Some were just awful. Basically, I didn’t want a ref to end my high school career.

“At halftime, we just got together and said, ‘Hey, the officials aren’t going to make or break this team. We are going to win it.’ ”

In the second half, Elsinore, which double-teamed Keefe throughout the first half, switched to a single man-to-man defense, making Keefe almost unstoppable. He scored 35 of the Warriors’ 42 second-half points.

“I kind of had a feeling I was (racking up a lot of points),” said Keefe, who has 2,024 points and 1,213 rebounds in his high school career. “But really, I had no idea it was that much.”

Keefe has shot 751 of 1,260 (59.6%) from the field in his four years at Woodbridge.

Sweet Seventeen: Thirty-one Orange County high schools gained entrance to the Southern Section boys’ basketball playoffs last week. Seventeen survived the first round. The winners: Ocean View, Edison and Mater Dei in the 5-A division; El Toro, Santa Ana, Capistrano Valley and Foothill in 4-A; Saddleback, Brea-Olinda, Kennedy, Los Alamitos, Western, Tustin, Savanna, Cypress and Sunny Hills in 3-A and Woodbridge in 2-A.

The losers: Marina (5-A); Irvine and Santa Ana Valley (4-A); Troy, Fullerton, La Quinta, El Dorado, Bolsa Grande and Estancia (3-A); Laguna Beach and Laguna Hills (2-A); Whittier Christian and Orange Lutheran (1-A) and Claremont (Small Schools).

The Upstart: Cypress, whose 8-15 record was the worst of any team entering the 3-A playoffs last week, upset Montebello (16-6) at Montebello Friday night.

Five weeks ago, the Centurions started Empire League play with a 3-10 overall record. Two games later, after losses to Los Alamitos and El Dorado, Cypress was 3-12.

Although many of Cypress’ losses were to some of the Southern Section’s top teams--including Saddleback, Santa Ana, Long Beach Wilson and Long Beach Millikan--Centurion Coach Kevin Loftus had quite a time convincing his players that their record didn’t reflect their ability or potential.

“I’ll tell you, it was tough keeping up the team morale,” Loftus said. “But to the kids’ credit, we didn’t let ourselves roll over and die. We won five of our next six games.”

Cypress, now 9-15, which hadn’t made the playoffs since it won the league championship in 1981, has never advanced past the second round. Next Cypress faces Sunny Hills (21-3), the second-seeded team. They play Tuesday.

“We’ll have to rebound well and we’ll have to be real physical,” Loftus said, then added: “I’ll wear the same shamrock on my lapel that my wife gave me to wear Friday at Montebello. I’ll wear it till we die.”

The Upset: Whittier Christian, the 1981, 1986 and 1987 1-A runner-up, was the third-seeded team entering the 1-A playoffs.

But Cathedral, a wild-card entrant, upset the Heralds, 69-66, Friday night. Whittier Christian, which has made the playoffs nine consecutive years, failed to reach the second round for the first time since 1983. The Heralds finished at 17-7.

Whittier Christian led by 41-32 at the half and by 56-43 going into the fourth quarter. But Cathedral, led by guard Javier Montenegro, outscored the Heralds, 26-10, in the final quarter for the victory.

“That game was an example of what our whole season was like,” said Whittier Christian Coach Bill Cuccia.

“At times, we’d look like the greatest thing in basketball. Then all of a sudden, we’d be flat and inconsistent and nobody would want to take charge. It boiled down to who wanted it more.”

Others had it worse. Longtime rival Santa Monica Crossroads, the two-time defending 1-A champion, was eliminated Wednesday by Chaminade in a wild-card match. Crossroads finished at 14-10.

“Yeah, that made me feel just a little bit better,” Cuccia said. “At least I have company in misery.”

Whittier Christian will return eight varsity players next season--seven who started at one time or another this season.

The most notable loss is senior Erik Martin, who averaged 26 points and 15 rebounds. Martin accepted a scholarship from Texas Christian University.

Two coin flips set up the best game of the girls’ 4-A basketball playoffs Saturday night.

Marina beat Muir, 51-50, in a physical, well-played first-round game. It should have been expected, however, since Marina finished seventh and Muir eighth in the final Southern Section 4-A poll.

Usually, highly ranked teams aren’t supposed to meet until the later rounds. But because Marina tied with Huntington Beach for second in the Sunset League and Muir tied with Pasadena for the Pacific League championship, two coin flips were held to break the ties.

Marina won its flip and was the league’s No. 2 representative and Muir lost its flip and also was a No. 2 team.

Marina (21-5) plays Lakewood (19-6) in the second round Wednesday. Lakewood upset sixth-ranked Culver City, 67-54, Saturday.

Add girls’ basketball: The second, third and fourth seeds in the 3-A playoffs all lost Saturday, leaving Brea-Olinda as the only seeded team left.

Top-seeded Brea (26-1) beat Tustin, 79-38, and will play North Torrance (16-8) Wednesday.

Second-seeded Redlands lost to Charter Oak, 79-76. Third-seeded Mission Viejo was beaten by Esperanza, a wild-card entry, 59-55. And Ridgecrest Burroughs, the No. 4-seeded team, fell to Louisville, 52-50.

In girls’ soccer, El Toro, a wild-card entrant, upset fourth-seeded Mira Costa (16-6-4) Friday in the Southern Section 4-A first round. Dawn Kluegel scored 68 minutes into the game to lead the Chargers to a 1-0 victory. El Toro will play host to Torrance (12-6-6) Wednesday in a quarterfinal match.

Top-seeded Mission Viejo (23-0-2) cruised through its first-round match, defeating Palos Verdes (11-12-1), 4-1. The Diablos will play Corona del Mar (13-5-5), a 2-1 winner over Marina, in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Capistrano Valley, which beat Hawthorne (16-4-4), 3-0, Friday, will play third-ranked Upland in Wednesday’s quarterfinals. The Cougars are 16-4-3.

In the 3-A division, second-round matches include second-seeded Esperanza (20-1-2) vs. Long Beach Wilson (12-4-2); Cypress (10-5-2) hosting top-seeded San Gorgonio; Mater Dei (21-4-1) at Royal (16-4-1); Los Alamitos (21-4-2) hosting Buena (18-4-1); La Quinta (16-4-1) hosting Alemany (19-3-2), and fourth-seeded Laguna Hills (17-5-1) at Bishop Amat (15-4-2).

Brea-Olinda is the only Orange County team remaining in the 2-A. The Wildcats will host fourth-seeded South Pasadena in a second-round match Tuesday.

In boys’ soccer, Brea-Olinda scored a big upset by defeating second-seeded Kennedy, 1-0, in a 2-A first-round match Friday. Sophomore Jason Ochs scored the winning goal 17 minutes into the first half.

Brea-Olinda (10-5-7), a wild-card entrant from the Orange League, will host Kepple (16-1-3) in Wednesday’s second round.

“Once again we are approaching this game as a underdog,” said Manny Toledo, Brea-Olinda coach. “Since we didn’t win the league, we know we have to win something this year. That’s how we’re approaching it.”

In another 2-A match, senior forward Pat Richards scored three goals in the second half to lead Laguna Hills, a wild-card entrant, to a 4-3 victory over Valencia Friday. Valencia, the No. 1 representative from the Orange League, finished at 9-7-5.

Richards, who scored the game-winner with five minutes remaining in the game, has scored 23 goals this season for Laguna Hills (15-7-3).

Prep Note

La Habra High School is now taking applications for a head football coach with a full-time teaching position.