Trabuco Hills Sees the Shift in Pairings : Basketball: Moving up in divisions means talented teams rather than just one star player.

Trabuco Hills boys’ basketball Coach Rainer Wulf won’t be seeing any stars in the playoffs this season--not on the court, anyway.

In past years, the Mustangs have had to wade through the Division II-A playoffs. A tough task, considering the quality of players in it.

Last season, there was Charles O’Bannon (Artesia), Avondre Jones (Artesia), Jacque Vaughn (Pasadena Muir), Jelani Gardner (Bellflower St. John Bosco) and James Cotton (Bellflower St. John Bosco). Except for Gardner, all are playing on a Division I college team. And Gardner, a senior, is currently being recruited by most top colleges.

“It was tough,” Wulf said. “Sooner or later, you were going to hit a wall.”

Ah, but the Mustangs (21-5) moved up to Division II-AA this season. Now, they just have to beat teams, not stars.

“That’s the big difference,” Wulf said. “All I see in this division is some well-coached teams with good high school players.”

Hold the phone, big guy. Sitting out there as the Mustangs’ possible second-round opponent is Huntington Beach. The Oilers are led by 6-foot-6 Tony Gonzalez, Orange County’s second-leading scorer, who already has signed with California. He might prove to be another immovable object.

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Pacifica won its first league title in 23 years and a lot of folks credit the Mariners’ shoot-it-if-you-got-it offense. Not so, said first-year Coach Bob Becker.

“I thought we’re going to have to win games, 95-94,” Becker said. “But once a few of our guys figured out that we could win games by playing defense, things got better.”

The lesson took a while. The Mariners lost their first eight summer league games, then tightened up. The result was a 23-1 record, a Garden Grove League championship and the third seeding in the III-A playoffs.

Pacifica plays host to Estancia, which finished third in the Pacific Coast League Friday.

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Only two Southern Section boys’ teams finished the regular season undefeated, Mater Dei (26-0) and Riverside North. Mater Dei is the No. 1-seeded team in I-A and the division’s defending champion. North is the top-seeded team in II-AA.

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Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight was present at the Southern Section office Sunday when the pairings were announced. Two years ago when the pairings were announced, he took his wife, Judy, to the mountains for a brief rest.

“I spent most the time pacing around the cabin, so we decided not to do that again,” McKnight said.

Of course, there was another important reason for McKnight to stay in town.

“We had the Little League draft Saturday,” said McKnight, who also coaches Little League in Mission Viejo. “But I didn’t get the player I wanted.”

Can’t win ‘em all.

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Injury report: Three important players missed games last week to rest for the playoffs.

Demitrius Zeigler, the county’s leading scorer, missed University’s game Wednesday because of an ankle injury. Schea Cotton sat out Mater Dei’s game Wednesday because of a back injury. And Ali Ton sat out Los Alamitos’ game Friday because of an ankle injury.

Zeigler and Cotton played Friday and all three are expected to be in the lineup for their eams’ first-round games.

Even Santa Margarita’s Brian Finneran might return. The 6-5 Finneran, who has missed the last six games because of a broken bone in his foot, will be examined by his doctor Wednesday, at which time the cast might be removed. If cleared, he could return in time for the Eagles’ III-AA first-round game Friday against La Quinta.

“If the cast is removed, he’ll start doing light workouts on Thursday,” Coach Jerry DeBusk said.

Finneran hasn’t exactly been a couch potato. He has hobbled around practice trying to keep his shot sharp. DeBusk even had a stationary bicycle moved into the gymnasium, so Finneran could keep his legs in shape.

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No. 1: Mater Dei and Sonora (III-A) were the only county teams to be seeded No. 1. Los Alamitos had a chance in I-AA, but the Griffins lost their Empire League season finale against Katella and were seeded second.

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Cup of coffee winners: County teams that made the playoffs, but probably won’t be around too long are:

--Irvine, which drew Mater Dei.

--Foothill, which drew Sonora.

--Cypress, which drew top-seeded Dominguez (25-1) in II-A.