Warrior Five Bids for Finals
El Camino College can advance to the California community college men’s basketball tournament with a victory tonight over visiting Hancock College of Santa Maria at 7:30.
The Warriors (29-3) advanced to the third round of the regional playoffs by beating Saddleback, 60-53, Wednesday night. Hancock (26-5) had defeated Cerritos, 68-58, Tuesday.
The winner tonight will qualify for the final round of eight at Santa Clara on March 10-12.
El Camino Coach Paul Landreaux is critical of the playoff seeding. The top-seeded Warriors are in a bracket with three of the top nine teams in the state. Hancock, seeded eighth, held the No. 1 spot in the state half of the year.
“I’m hoarse talking about it,” Landreaux said. “Saddleback was not an easy game. Hancock will not be an easy game.”
Landreaux contends that the seeding has knocked some of the state’s best teams out of the state finals while giving weaker teams a better shot at making the final round of eight teams.
El Camino is ranked third statewide and No. 1 in Southern California.
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