THE PREPS : Boys’ Division II Regionals : Woodbridge Tries to Extend Year

Hold off on that farewell party. The Adam Keefe era at Woodbridge High School isn’t over yet.

The boys’ basketball team, which lost the Southern Section 2-A title to Banning on Saturday, got a new lease on life Sunday morning, with an at-large berth in the Southern California Division II regional playoffs.

The defending state-champion Warriors (22-6) travel to San Diego today to play Kearny. The game, at 7:30 p.m., will be held at Mira Mesa High School, which has a capacity of 1,500.

Kearny, like Woodbridge, lost in its championship game. Kearny (24-5) reached the San Diego Section Division II title game by upsetting Torrey Pines--the top-ranked team in San Diego--in the semifinals. But an emotionally flat Kearny lost to Madison, 54-53, in the final Friday, turning the ball over twice in the final 30 seconds.

Kearny, seeded third in the regionals, is led by forward Randy Robinson, a 6-foot 6-inch senior who signed early with the University of Colorado. Robinson is averaging 18.4 points and 12 rebounds.

Kearny, champion of San Diego’s Western League, has some bulk in the middle. Center John Williamson, 6-7 and 230 pounds, played on the offensive line for Kearny’s football team and has signed with San Diego State to play football. He is averaging 12 points and 6 rebounds.

Other key players include point guard Chris Ortiz, 6-1, who drives the lane well and is averaging 15.4 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Darrin Weeks, a 6-8 part-time starter, doesn’t contribute much scoring but is a capable shot blocker and defensive rebounder.

Because of Kearny’s height up front, Woodbridge Coach Bill Shannon may go with a different lineup, starting 6-6 junior P.A. Emerson and 6-8 Garth Anderson, along with Keefe, and moving forward Chris Deibert to the outside.

But no matter what lineup Shannon goes with, the game plan will be the same. Get the ball inside to Keefe. In the Warriors’ 62-54 loss to Banning, in which they trailed the whole game, Keefe scored 31 points and had 12 rebounds. He is averaging 34 points and 17 rebounds in this season’s playoffs.

To win, Woodbridge needs more effective outside shooting than it had on Saturday. Against Banning, the Warriors shot 42% from the floor, hitting just 1 of 15 three-pointers.

The winner will play Thursday against the winner of Madison-Tustin.