Granite Hills Has Nothing to Lose

Granite Hills basketball coach Joe Roos said his team is lucky to be in the Section basketball playoffs.

They are.

Granite Hills, seeded 16th out of 16 teams, has the worst record (9-16) of any Division I boys’ team allowed into the playoffs.

But Granite Hills, led by 6-foot-6 Scott Goergens (21 points a game), may not feel very lucky tonight at about 8 p.m. when they are up to their elbows in full-court presses and slam dunks at No. 1-seeded Sweetwater.

“We are very well-acquainted with Sweetwater,” said Roos, whose Eagles lost to Sweetwater by 40 in a holiday tournament this year. “They have a tremendous defense--it’s absolutely stifling.

“When we played them the last time, my best two players were going up for layups and they came without the ball. There was no foul or anything. They just took the ball away from us.”

Still, Roos said he doubts his team will be intimidated by the quicker Red Devils, who come into the playoffs with the county’s best record at 25-1.

“The game shouldn’t scare us, we’ve lost before,” Roos said. “If my kids don’t play afraid, we have a chance to beat them. But we shouldn’t beat them.”

Fifteenth-seeded Mission Bay (4-16) shouldn’t beat No. 2-seeded San Pasqual (18-5) either Wednesday night in Division II play. But Mission Bay Coach Mike Seaman said that’s what intrigues and excites him about the postseason tournament.

“Our kids showed up for a 10 a.m. practice today at 9:15,” Seaman said. “They realize they’re getting an opportunity to play against one of the best players in the county in Eric Meek. Here’s a kid they’ll be seeing on television for years to come.”

Seaman, in his 13th year at Mission Bay, said he has reminded his young team of famous Buccaneer upsets to prepare them for the game at San Pasqual.

“In 1985, we beat a heavily-favored El Camino in the Section semifinals, in ’81 we upset La Jolla and Ken Johnson (who later played in the NBA), and in ’78 we beat Sweetwater and Mike Pitts (who starred at Cal Berkeley),” Seaman said. “I just wanted to let them know it can happen.”

Although Seaman realizes, it won’t be easy.

“I don’t see us controlling Meek (29 points a game), but we’ve got to do a good job on the other four guys.”

In a first round that appears to be full of blow outs, the Fallbrook-Mira Mesa game actually looks like a decent match-up.

Mira Mesa (17-8) is seeded eighth in Division I and Fallbrook (16-10) is ninth.

Fallbrook Coach Russ Keith said the match-up would be even better if he had 6-6 Travis Teagle, his leading rebounder and second leading scorer. Teagle, who averaged 14.6 points and eight rebounds, was injured last Thursday in practice and will be unavailable tonight.

Bob Nolan, a 6-5 junior, will be given the unenviable task of replacing Teagle and guarding Mira Mesa’s Mark Ziegler (6-5), who averages 18.1 points and is one of the better big men in the county.

Keith said he will need a big game from sophomore guard Chris Miller (18 points a game) and Nolan to have chance.

“We’ve lost three straight and without Travis, it’s going to be an uphill battle,” Keith said.

First round games in Division I and II will be played tonight and Wednesday at the higher seed’s gymnasium. Winners will play Thursday and Friday.

First-round girls play also begins tonight with the Division I and II top seeds, Mt. Carmel (18-5) and Point Loma (23-3) in action.