Mater Dei Appearing for 6th Straight Time in Southern Section Semifinals Tonight

Top-seeded Bishop Amat High School of La Puente faces Lakewood, and three-time defending champion Mater Dei of Santa Ana plays Angelus League rival St. Bernard of Playa del Rey in the Southern Section 5-A basketball semifinals tonight at 7:30.

Mater Dei is making its sixth straight appearance in the semifinals, this time against a team it beat twice during the regular season. The margins, however, were two and three points, the latter in overtime, in the one of the toughest leagues in the Southern Section. The game will be played at Ocean View High School in Huntington Beach.

Bishop Amat, which won the Angelus League, meets the Moore League’s third-place team at Long Beach City College.

Elsewhere, Capistrano Valley of Mission Viejo meets Santa Barbara in a 4-A game at Saddleback College, Tustin faces Palos Verdes in a 3-A game at Redondo, Banning and Santa Clara of Oxnard play at Canyon Springs High in Moreno Valley and defending champion Woodbridge of Irvine takes on San Bernardino at Villa Park in the 2-A semifinals, and Cate of Carpinteria takes on Hesperia Christian in the Small Schools.

The 5-A, 4-A, 3-A and 2-A finals will be Saturday at the Sports Arena. Championships in the 1-A and Small Schools will be decided Friday night at separate sites to be named.