HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL : Mater Dei-Crenshaw Meeting Anticipated

If all goes according to form in the CIF Southern Regional boys’ basketball pairings, which were released Sunday, Santa Ana Mater Dei will meet Crenshaw for the third consecutive season in the Southern Regional final Saturday at The Pond of Anaheim.

Mater Dei is top-seeded in the Southern Region for the fourth consecutive season. Still, recent history favors second-seeded Crenshaw, which upset Mater Dei in the last two Southern Regional championship games. Crenshaw also won the last two state titles.

Mater Dei (32-1), which enters the Southern Regional tournament with a 21-game winning streak, will play host to Long Beach Poly (21-10) in a first-round game Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center.

Crenshaw (24-5) will play host to La Puente Nogales (26-4) in the first round Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

The Mater Dei girls (25-1) also were top-seeded in Division I and will play host to Washington Prep (18-7) in a first-round game Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Bren Center.

Boys’ and girls’ semifinals in all five divisions will be played Thursday. Saturday’s Southern Regional finals for Divisions I, II and III will be held at the Pond.

The Division IV and V finals will be held at Cal State Fullerton.

Southern Regional winners will play their Northern Regional counterparts in the state finals March 17-18 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.