PREP BASKETBALL: PLAYOFF PAIRINGS : San Bernardino Dropped in Mater Dei’s Bracket

Top-ranked San Bernardino High’s 71-62 loss to Cajon last Thursday night cost it more than the outright San Andreas League championship.

The Cardinals (25-1) went from being the top-seeded team in the Southern Section Division I-A basketball playoffs to fourth-seeded.

San Bernardino, which next Friday will play host to the winner of Tuesday’s Ocean View-Moreno Valley game, is now in the same bracket as top-seeded Mater Dei. Mater Dei (22-4) is the defending State Division I champion.

City and Southern Section playoff pairings for boys were announced Sunday. Under a revised format in the Southern Section in which any team is eligible to participate in the playoffs, a record 367 teams were paired. Last year, 285 teams qualified for the playoffs.

Although San Bernardino and Cajon split their regular-season series, Cajon earned the league’s top seeding by virtue of winning the last game. The Cowboys (21-4) are the No. 2-seeded team in I-A.

Long Beach Jordan, the Moore League champion, is top-seeded in I-AA, which is composed of schools with the largest enrollments in the section. There are 10 divisions overall, with the smallest schools playing in V-A.

Although the opening round of the playoffs begins Friday, some teams that did not finish among the top in their leagues can advance to the first round of the playoffs by winning qualifying-round games Tuesday. In V-AA, there are 17 qualifying games. Winners advance to the first round.

All divisions except IV-AA and IV-A will have 32-team brackets.

Other top-seeded teams:

Riverside North (Ivy League, 20-2), II-AA; Artesia (Suburban, 20-2), II-A; Costa Mesa Estancia (Pacific, 20-4), III-AA; Morningside (Ocean, 23-3), III-A; Santa Clara (Frontier, 21-4), IV-AA; Santa Maria St. Joseph (Los Padres, 21-2), IV-A; Santa Barbara Bishop Diego (Tri-Valley, 20-4), V-AA, and La Canada Ribet Academy (Heritage, 23-2), V-A.