Section Basketball Championships Need a Home

After discovering that the San Diego Sports Arena was unavailable for the section basketball championships, commissioner Kendall Webb was notified Monday that San Diego State’s Peterson Gym also is not available. Golden Hall now is the next facility on Webb’s list of possibilities.

A men’s volleyball match and two women’s basketball games are scheduled February 28 and March 1-3 at Peterson Gym, the dates Webb requested. The Sports Arena is unavailable March 1-3.

The only site large enough to accommodate all the championship games is Golden Hall, which seats 4,100. Webb said that if a large enough facility can’t be found, the games will be held at individual high schools.

There are three factors hinging on whether the championships could be played at Golden Hall, said Frank Mlyniec, Golden Hall’s Booking and Events Coordinator. There is a tentative hold on the hall for March 1-3 by another organization, which must first be worked out.

The other two factors Mlyniec said must be worked out between Webb and U.S. International University, which plays its home games at Golden Hall. USIU’s final home game is scheduled for March 3 and the floor that is put down for games belongs to the school.

“If the three factors aren’t positive, it can’t happen,” Mlyniec said.

The Sports Arena has been the site of the championships for the past 14 years.

A change in the playoff location isn’t the only switch for county basketball teams. After two years of implementing an open format for playoffs, allowing every team a spot, the section is reverting to a 16-team format.

There are only seven schools in Divisions III and IV and 15 in Division V by enrollment numbers enabling all the teams to earn a playoff spot.

Divisions I and II, however, have 17 and 26 schools respectively so for a possible playoff opportunity some schools have petitioned to switch divisions.

In the boys’ division, Sweetwater, Vista, Castle Park and Point Loma will move up to Division I, increasing that division to 21 teams and dropping Division II to 22 teams. Vista’s and Santana’s girls’ teams will switch from Division II to Division I.

Tony Clark is having no problem adjusting to playing for Christian High School after transfering from Valhalla this year. Friday, against Mountain Empire, Clark scored 58 points surpassing his game high of 55 he scored last year when Valhalla played Santana.

Clark is now in the section record book for third and fourth most points scored in a game. The No. 1 spot is held by Madison’s Mitchell Lilly who scored 61 points against San Diego in 1976.

Last year Clark averaged 30.3 points per game and is second in the record books for best scoring average in a season.

Santa Clara (Oxnard) will be playing at Valhalla Saturday and at USDHS on December 18. Santa Clara, the defending Division IV state champion, is led by 6-5 senior guard Shon Tarver. Tarver has been recruited by Arizona, Syracuse, UNLV and UCLA.