State Basketball Tournament Opens With Long Beach Poly Battling Loyola

Long Beach Poly, the Southern Section 5-AA Division boys’ champion, will play host to 5-A runner-up Loyola tonight at 7:30 in the opening round of the State high school basketball tournament.

Long Beach Poly (26-2), seeking its first State title since 1984, is the top-seeded team in Division I. Santa Ana Mater Dei (30-1), the 5-A champion, is seeded second.

The Monarchs will play North Hollywood (23-3), the City 3-A champion, at Huntington Beach Ocean View High School. Third-seeded Manual Arts (26-3), the City 4-A champion, will play Central champion Bakersfield (26-3) at Cal State Dominguez Hills at 8 p.m.

In the girls’ Division I, top-seeded Inglewood Morningside (28-3), the Southern Section 5-AA champion, will play Ventura (26-1), the 5-A runner-up, at Morningside. Second-seeded Washington (27-3), the City 4-A champion, will play Lynwood (25-2), the Southern Section 5-AA runner-up, at Cal State Dominguez Hills at 6 p.m.

The Southern California Regional semifinals will be held Thursday. The finals in Division I will be Friday at the Sports Arena. On Saturday, title games in Division II and III will be at the Sports Arena, and Division IV and V will be at Cal State Dominguez Hills.