NOTEBOOK / GARY KLEIN : Tradition Trips Up La Canada in Basketball Playoffs

The Southern Section playoff quarterfinals continue to be a stumbling block for the La Canada High boys’ basketball team.

For the fourth consecutive year, the Spartans were eliminated in the quarterfinals, this time by Santa Margarita, 59-57, in overtime in II-A Division play.

Ribet Academy, meanwhile, continued its drive toward a second consecutive Southern Section title by defeating Redlands Calvary Chapel, 90-40, to advance to the V-A semifinal against Baptist Christian.

In the City Section, Marshall was eliminated from the 3-A playoffs by No. 1-seeded Fremont, 96-50.

In girls’ basketball, La Canada advanced to the Southern Section semifinals for the first time in 15 years by beating Cabrillo, 44-42. La Canada played Costa Mesa on Wednesday in a III-A game.

Flintridge Prep advanced to the semifinals for the first time by defeating Coast Union, 53-52, in overtime. The Rebels met top-ranked Pasadena Poly on Wednesday in a V-AA game.

Results of those games were not available at press time.

Ribet Academy was eliminated in girls’ the V-A quarterfinals by Gethsemane Baptist, 51-38.

It’s over: The Occidental College men’s basketball team finished its season by dropping four consecutive games.

The Tigers, who two weeks ago were in a first-place tie with La Verne in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings, started their streak by losing to La Verne, 86-73. Occidental then fell to Cal Lutheran (93-76), Redlands (117-90) and Claremont, the eventual conference champion, 104-67.

Occidental finished 14-12 overall and 7-5 in SCIAC play.

Tiger junior Sandy Brown was selected first-team all-conference after averaging 16.5 points and 5.8 rebounds a game.

Drafted: Cornerback Greg Coauette, who earned J. C. Grid-Wire All-American honors at Glendale College in 1983 when he shared the national lead in interceptions, was drafted by the Sacramento Surge in the fifth round of the World League of American Football’s draft of defensive backs Sunday in Orlando. Coauette was the 50th selection overall.

Coauette completed his collegiate career at USC, where he was a second-team All-Pacific-10 selection as a senior in 1987. Coauette was signed as a free agent by the Rams in 1988, but was released during training camp.

Staff writer Steven Herbert contributed to this story.