PREP BASKETBALL STATE REGIONAL PLAYOFFS : Top-Seeded Teams Have Different Tasks

Top-seeded Palos Verdes Peninsula, 29-0, is expected to breeze through the girls’ Southern Regional in the State Division I high school basketball playoffs, which begin tonight. The road is expected to be rougher for the Santa Ana Mater Dei boys, seeded No. 1 in Division I.

Peninsula’s biggest challenge is once-beaten Thousand Oaks, led by state sprint champion Marion Jones. Peninsula handed the Lancers their only loss earlier this season.

“I never worry about them finding a reason to play hard,” said Peninsula Coach Wendall Yoshida, whose team defeated Lynwood for the I-AA title Saturday night, 54-44. “They’ve played together for a while now, and each one of them has played in some extremely tough competition and they know what it takes.”

Peninsula is a first-year school, a consolidation of Palos Verdes, Miraleste and Rolling Hills highs. Palos Verdes won the state Division III title last year.

Eight boys’ and girls’ teams in five divisions qualified for the Regional tournaments. Tonight’s first-round winners will play in the semifinals Thursday. Finals will be Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills and the Sports Arena.

Southern Regional champions will play Northern Regional winners for state titles March 20-21 at Arco Arena in Sacramento.

Mater Dei, 31-1, won its seventh Southern Section title in the last 10 years Saturday night, defeating Riverside North in Division I-A, 65-55. Many are calling this Coach Gary McKnight’s best team since he took over the program in 1983.

The Monarchs will face Lynwood tonight at Huntington Beach Ocean View High. Lynwood is coming off a 69-51 loss to Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley in the I-AA final Saturday.

“They could come out, hit their shots and look like a big-time team,” McKnight said of Lynwood. “They have big-time talent, but a lot depends on (Nathan) Ware’s injury. When he’s healthy, they’re awfully tough.”

Ware, a 6-7 junior forward, played little against Capistrano Valley after suffering an ankle injury. His status is uncertain.

Although Mater Dei is expected to beat Lynwood, it might face defending regional champion Los Angeles Fremont in the semifinals. Fremont, the City 3-A champion, will play tonight at Clovis West in Fresno. Fremont was the top-seeded team in the tournament last year.

“Winning on the road is not easy, but it can be done,” said Sam Sullivan, Fremont’s coach. “We’ll find out very quickly if we are up to the challenge. Our team would look forward to a chance to play Mater Dei.”