DIVISION III-AA

Defending champion: Cathedral City.

Top teams: Ocean View (21-4); Barstow (22-3); La Canada (22-5); Magnolia (22-4).

Dark horse: Lompoc (18-6). Because they’re north of Santa Barbara, few teams will even know about the Braves, much less scout them.

Top players: Zamiro Bennem (Magnolia), Titus Bradley (Covina Gladstone), Tony Dow (Ocean View), Ben Fredrickson (La Quinta), Jerry Green (Pomona), Roland Jones (Lompoc), Omar Lopez (El Centro Central Union), Charles Mann (Barstow), Duc Nguyen (Bolsa Grande).

Notes: There are four county teams in this division. It is also the most sprawling division geographically, stretching from Lompoc to San Diego. “Whoever wins this one could call themselves world champions,” Ocean View Coach Jim Harris joked. . . . Speaking of the Seahawks, they enter the playoffs on an 11-game winning streak. And Harris said they have a good chance to win. “I’ve always placed more importance on league,” he said. “But before the start of league I asked the players if they could win 18-19 in a row. They said they could. We talked about what it takes to do that. So far we’ve gotten 11, and hope we can get another four.” Four more would get Ocean View the section title. Dow, a 6-1 junior guard, is among the county leaders in field goal percentage (.531). . . . Barstow’s big gun is 5-11 guard/forward Charles Mann (15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds). . . . Bolsa Grande brings one of the county’s best shooters to the playoffs in 6-1 senior guard Nguyen (20.2 points). And you have to think Matador forward Jon James (19.4 points, 11.1 rebounds) has a point to prove after his ineffective outing last week against Pacifica. . . . Lompoc, the Northern League champion, is led by the one-two punch of 6-0 junior guard Roland Jones (15.9) and 6-3 senior center Matt Primous (11.8 points, 12.2 points).