Community College Pairings : All Six County Teams in Playoffs

All six Orange County community college men’s basketball teams--Cypress, Rancho Santiago, Orange Coast, Saddleback, Fullerton and Golden West--made the playoffs as the Southern California Regional pairings were announced by the Southern California Regional seeding committee.

Cypress, Orange Coast, Golden West and Rancho Santiago are all in the same bracket.

Rancho Santiago (23-7), the No. 7-seeded team, hosts No. 26 San Bernardino Valley (15-14). The winner advances to meet the winner of the Golden West/Los Angeles Harbor game in the second round, which will be played March 1 or 2. Golden West (15-15), the No. 23-seeded team, is at No. 10 Los Angeles Harbor (18-9).

Orange Coast (18-14), the No. 15-seeded team, is at No. 18 Chaffey (16-13), and the winner advances to play Cypress (27-5), which is the No. 2-seeded team and received a first-round bye.

The top six seeded teams in the group of 26 that made the playoffs received first-round byes. The 26 teams are broken down into four brackets, and the winner of each bracket advances to the state tournament. The seeding committee is made up of one coach from each conference.

The first round is Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.

The final four teams from the Southern California and Northern California regionals meet in the state tournament March 10-12 at Santa Clara University.

If Rancho Santiago wins its first two games and Cypress wins once, the teams would meet for a berth in the state tournament. Cypress defeated Rancho Santiago twice this season in conference.

“We would like to play Cypress again but mainly because it would mean a chance to get into the state tournament,” Dana Pagett, Rancho Santiago coach, said. “But we can’t set our sights beyond anything except San Bernardino Valley.”

In other opening-round games: Saddleback (17-11), the No. 17-seeded team, plays at No. 16 Long Beach (19-13). The winner plays at top-seeded El Camino (28-3). Fullerton (18-12), the No.-12 seeded team, hosts No. 21 Grossmont (13-14).

Golden West (29-2) is the top-seeded women’s team in the Southern California Regional for the second consecutive season.

Sixteen teams make the regional, and teams have to win two games to reach the state tournament, which is March 3-5 at Sacramento City College.

Golden West, the South Coast Conference champion, hosts No. 16 Grossmont (13-12) Tuesday. The winner advances to play the winner of Cypress/Moorpark Friday. Cypress (23-7), the Orange Empire Conference champion and No. 9-seeded team, is at No. 8 Moorpark (21-10), also Tuesday.

In other first-round games: Orange Coast (16-14), the No. 10-seeded team, is at No. 7 Cerritos (23-8). Fullerton (25-8), the No. 6-seeded team, hosts No. 11 Hancock (17-8) also Wednesday.