15 Area Basketball Teams Still in City and CIF Playoff Picture

Nine South Bay teams will play second-round games in the CIF Southern Section basketball playoffs tonight, while six area schools begin action in the L.A. City 4-A Division playoffs.

All games start at 7:30.

Rolling Hills, seeded No. 1 in the Southern Section 3-A Division, won a coin flip to earn the home game against Bellflower (17-9), runner-up of the Suburban League. The Titans (23-4) have a 30-game home winning streak.

Morningside, seeded No. 4 in 3-A, wasn’t as fortunate. The Monarchs (21-4) lost a coin flip and will make a lengthy bus trip to Paso Robles (19-4), near San Luis Obispo.

In the 5-AA Division, St. Bernard (23-5) will travel to Citrus Belt League champion Redlands (20-6) after losing a flip.

In 4-AA, Torrance (15-10) plays at Freeway League co-champion Sunny Hills of Fullerton (17-8) and Inglewood (15-8), which had a first-round bye, plays host to Mission Viejo (12-12).

Redondo (18-8) is at home against No. 2-seeded St. Paul (19-7), which had a first-round bye, in a 4-A match-up.

El Segundo (14-10) will travel to Lompoc to face Cabrillo (21-2), the top seed in the 2-AA playoffs. Cabrillo had a first-round bye.

Mary Star (17-7) is the home team in a 1-A match-up with Flintridge Prep (12-10), but as of Thursday afternoon the school still did not know where the game would be played. Mary Star’s gym is too small to hold a playoff contest. Those wanting to know the site can call the school at 547-1138.

In Small Schools, South Bay Lutheran of Inglewood (10-11) travels to Cal Lutheran of Garden Grove.

Tonight’s winners will advance to the quarterfinals Wednesday, except in 2-AA and 2-A. The next step in those divisions is the semifinals next Friday.

In the only L.A. City 4-A playoff opener matching South Bay schools, Banning (10-13), third-place team from the Pacific League, will play at Westchester (15-5), the Metro League runner-up.

In other games, Pacific League champion Carson (14-7) plays host to Palisades (9-10), Narbonne (3-17) travels to top-seeded Manual Arts (21-0), San Pedro (9-11) faces Fairfax (11-11) at Gardena High and Gardena (11-12) plays at No. 2-seeded Cleveland of Reseda (20-2) in the rematch of a game Cleveland won, 111-59, last month.

Quarterfinals will be played Wednesday, with the semifinals next Friday at the Sports Arena.