USD to Meet Pepperdine in First Round

The University of San Diego men’s basketball team, which finished tied for last place with Portland in the West Coast Athletic Conference, won a coin toss Sunday to be seeded No. 7 in the WCAC tournament March 4-6.

USD (7-19, 2-12) will play No. 2 Pepperdine (18-11, 10-4) in Saturday’s first round at 2 p.m in San Francisco.

No. 1 St. Mary’s (24-3, 12-2) plays No. 8 Portland (2-25, 2-12) at noon. No. 3 Loyola Marymount (17-10, 10-4) takes on No. 6 Gonzaga (14-13, 5-9) at 6 p.m. And No. 4 San Francisco (16-11, 8-6) plays host to No. 5 Santa Clara (18-9, 7-7) at 8 p.m.

In the second round Sunday, the winning teams are seeded according to conference records. The final is Monday at 8:30 p.m.

Christian Heritage College is the third-seeded team in the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics’ District 3 playoffs and will play host to Cal Baptist Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Point Loma Nazarene College.

Top-seeded Southern California College (27-3) is ranked No. 16 in the NAIA poll and gets a bye in the seven-team field. Biola is the second-seeded team and Westmont is seeded fourth. The Hawks split their two games with SCC this season.

The first-round winners play Saturday at Whittier College.

The Hawks (23-7) are led by junior guard Mark Kraatz, an All-District 3 player.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

Sites for the semifinal doubleheaders of the San Diego Section Division I and II basketball playoffs Tuesday have been decided, said Kendall Webb, the section commissioner. The girls’ games will be at 5:30 p.m. followed by the boys’ games at 7:30 at all sites.

In Division I, Poway will play top-seeded Point Loma in the girls’ game and Poway will meet Mt. Carmel in the boys’ contest at Mira Mesa High while Santana plays Mira Mesa in a girls’ game at Serra High and San Diego meets Valhalla at Torrey Pines High.

In Division II, Vista plays Oceanside in the girls’ game followed by the boys’ game between Torrey Pines and Helix at San Dieguito High. At Torrey Pines, San Marcos plays Mission Bay in a girls’ game and Point Loma meets Madison in the boys’ game at Serra.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

San Diego State broke open a close game at the half and went on to defeat Providence, 77-69, in the third-place game of the Northern Lights tournament at Alaska-Anchorage.

Five players scored in double figures for the 16th-ranked Aztecs (23-6). Brooke Meadows and Julie Evans scored 18 apiece and Chana Perry added 13 for SDSU, which led, 39-37, at the half.

Providence (20-9) was led by Liz Lawlor’s 19 points.

BASEBALL

U.S. International powered its way to a 10-8 victory over Lewis & Clark to finish third in the Las Vegas Desert tournament. Geoff Martinez hit a three-run homer in the second, Kevin Tahan hit a two-run home run in the fourth and Beto Rodriguez added a solo homer in the seventh. Tahan’s homer was his sixth of the season. Mike Whisonant (2-3) got the victory for USIU (8-8).