Southern Section Basketball Playoffs : Lear Leads Bishop Amat to 5-A Title Game, 62-54

Geoff Lear scored 23 points and had 21 rebounds to lead Bishop Amat High School of La Puente, the top-seeded team in the 5-A Division, to a 62-54 win over Lakewood Wednesday night at Long Beach City College and a berth in Saturday’s title game.

Lear, a 6-foot 8-inch forward-center, scored 15 points in the second half and had 7 rebounds in the fourth quarter, when Bishop Amat outscored Lakewood, 22-14. Clarence Lamb added 19 points for the Lancers, who will face Mater Dei of Santa Ana, an 87-70 winner over St. Bernard of Playa del Rey in the other semifinal, for the championship Saturday night.

Bishop Amat (27-2) trailed, 28-25, at halftime but tied the game at the end of the third quarter, 40-40, behind the strong inside play of Lear and the outside shooting of Lamb and Stephon Pace.

Brian Camper scored 17 to lead Lakewood (19-10). His brother, Victor, added 12 points.

Mater Dei 87, St. Bernard 70--The three-time defending champion Monarchs (20-7) earned a spot in the final as Mark Ramstack scored 29 points and Dylan Rigdon added 25 at Ocean View High in Huntington Beach.

St. Bernard, which lost to Mater Dei twice during Angelus League play, finishes 20-8.

Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley 82, Santa Barbara 75--Sophomore forward Scott McCorkle scored 35 points to lead the Cougars (26-4) into the 4-A final against Simi Valley.

Santa Barbara (22-6) scored 37 points in the first three quarters and 38 points in the final 8 minutes but couldn’t make up the difference. Paul Johnson scored 26 points for the Dons but picked up his third foul with 3:42 left in the first quarter, his fourth with 2:42 to play in the half and fouled out in the fourth quarter.

Banning 69, Oxnard Santa Clara 68--For the second straight year, Banning (29-0) beat the Saints for a trip to the 2-A championship game, this time in overtime.

Santa Clara finishes 19-9.

Banning will meet Woodbridge of Irvine, a 59-50 winner over San Bernardino, for the title. That will be a rematch of last season’s game, won by Woodbridge.