HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Lynwood Heads Southern Section 5-AA Field

Lynwood (26-1), the San Gabriel Valley League champion, is No. 1-seeded and Long Beach Poly (21-2), the Moore League champion, is No. 2 in the Southern Section Boys 5-AA Division basketball playoff pairings released Sunday.

San Bernardino (24-2), the San Andreas League champion, is seeded third and St. Monica (20-5), the Camino Real League titlist, is fourth.

Santa Ana Mater Dei (25-1), the Times’ top-ranked Southern Section team and Angelus League champion, is the top-seeded team in the 5-A Division. Loyola of Los Angeles (18-3), the Del Rey League champion, is seeded second, Capistrano Valley (17-8), the South Coast League titlist, is third and Cajon (21-3), the San Andreas League runner-up, is fourth.

The first three teams in each league automatically qualified for the playoffs and were placed in divisions according to their size unless the school requested a move up in divisions. Also, teams receiving at-large bids were determined by a new Southern Section rating system, which awards points based on difficulty of schedule.

Division 5-AA is for schools with an enrollment of at least 2,410; 5-A (2,000-2,409); 4-AA (1,710-1999); 4-A (1,500-1,709); 3-AA (1,251-1,499); 3-A (1,000-1,250); 2-AA (650-999); 2-A (400-649); 1-A (140-399), and Small Schools (0-139).

First-round play begins Tuesday with the finals in all 10 divisions scheduled Feb. 28-March 3. Here are the remaining seeded teams, by division:

4-AA: 1. Dominguez (San Gabriel Valley No. 3); 2. Compton (Moore No. 2); 3. Mission Viejo (South Coast No. 2); 4. Glendora (Baseline No. 1).

4-A: 1. Artesia (Suburban No. 1); 2. San Marcos (Channel No. 1); 3. La Mirada (Suburban No. 2); 4. Burbank Burroughs (Foothill No. 1).

3-AA: 1. Morningside (Ocean No. 1); 2. Brea-Olinda (Orange No. 1); 3. Foothill (Century No. 1); 4. Western (Orange No. 2).

3-A: 1. Harvard (San Fernando Valley No. 1); 2. Rancho Alamitos (Garden Grove No. 1); 3. Corona del Mar (Sea View No. 1); 4. La Canada (Rio Hondo No. 1).

2-AA: 1. Santa Clara (Frontier No. 1); 2. Banning (Sunkist No. 1); 3. Twentynine Palms (De Anza No. 1); 4. Cathedral (Santa Fe No. 1).

2-A: 1. Laguna Beach (Pacific Coast No. 1); 2. Cerritos Valley Christian (Olympic No. 1); 3. Santa Maria St. Joseph (Los Padres No. 2); 4. Orange Lutheran (Olympic No. 3).

1-A: 1. Mission Prep (Tri-County No. 1); 2. Montclair Prep (Alpha No. 1); 3. Pasadena Poly (Prep No. 1); 4. Holy Martyrs (Liberty No. 1).

SMALL SCHOOLS: 1. Ribet Academy (Heritage No. 1); 2. St. Margaret’s (Academy No. 1); 3. Highland Hall (Westside No. 1); 4. Elsinore Chrs. (Metro No. 1).

Manual Arts (21-3), the Western League champion, is the top-seeded team in the boys’ City 4-A playoffs that begin first-round play Friday.

Defending City 4-A and State Division I champion Crenshaw (19-4) is seeded second, followed by North Valley titlist Cleveland (19-5), and Carson (18-8), the Pacific League champion.

In the 3-A Division, Fremont (25-2), the defending champion, is top-seeded. Grant (20-3), the Valley East champion, is second, Hamilton (18-6), the Metro League titlist, is third and Reseda (12-2), which tied with North Hollywood (21-3) in the Mid-Valley League but won a coin flip to determine the league’s No. 1 team, is seeded fourth.

North Hollywood opens play at Lincoln (16-7), the Northwest League champion, in a matchup of two of the best players in the division--Dana Jones of North Hollywood and Aaron Atkinson of Lincoln.

In girls’ 4-A playoff pairings, Southern League champion Washington (23-3), the defending champion, is top-seeded, followed by Mid-Valley titlist Van Nuys (20-3), West Valley champion Kennedy (15-3), and Carson (21-7), the Pacific League champion.