La Canada Must Slow Barstow

La Canada High (24-5) will have a handful of problems tonight when it faces Barstow (24-3) in a Southern Section Division III-AA semifinal boys’ basketball game at Blair High.

All five Barstow starters are averaging 10 or more points. The high-scoring Aztecs, who averaged 75 points through the regular season, are coming off their highest-scoring game, a 106-93 victory over Riverside Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.

Two of Barstow’s losses were against Division I teams, Eisenhower and Pacific.

Junior swingman Charles Mann averages 15.3 points a game for the Aztecs, followed by senior guard Mario Hernandez with 11.8 and senior guard Joey Baca at 11.2.

La Canada’s 6-foot-7 center Matt Moore is coming off a 40-point performance against Lompoc and could have a similar game tonight. He has at least five inches on every Barstow player.

Moore is averaging 25 points a game, teammate Ian Sullivan 15.6.

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Although Lompoc Cabrillo (14-11) has been inconsistent all season, the Conquistadores have shown consistency when it comes to beating Valley/Ventura County teams. Cabrillo beat Saugus and Thousand Oaks in tournament play and most recently eliminated Harvard-Westlake, 88-79, and Santa Paula, 86-77, from the playoffs.

Next challenge? Top-seeded Chaminade (25-1). Tonight, Cabrillo will face the Eagles in a Division III-A semifinal at Simi Valley High.

What makes this game most interesting is the matchup between 6-7 centers Jay Richardson of Cabrillo and Scott Borchart of Chaminade.

Richardson, a senior who averages 20 points and 13 rebounds, scored 29 against fourth-seeded Santa Paula.

Borchart, a freshman who averages 12.7 points and 6.9 rebounds, is coming off a 21-point, 13-rebound performance against Compton Centennial.

Cabrillo, which hasn’t won three consecutive games all season, has picked it up for the playoffs. All five starters have scored in double figures in each postseason game.

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Simi Valley Coach Dean Bradshaw told his team all season they must play their best in the playoffs--particularly after two losses to Newbury Park in Marmonte League play--and his players seem to have taken the same view.

Simi Valley (24-5), the No. 4-seeded team in the Division I-AA playoffs, defeated Santa Maria, 74-62, and Long Beach Jordan, 77-70, in the first two rounds and will meet No. 5 Bellflower (23-5) in a quarterfinal at Mayfair High in Lakewood at 7:30 tonight.

“I think they’re going to win the whole thing,” Newbury Park’s Steve Johnson said. “They seem to be playing very well.”

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If a team wants to beat Dos Pueblos in a tight game, it better make its free throws down the stretch.

Newbury Park learned that in a 48-47 loss to Dos Pueblos in a second-round game of the Division II-A playoffs on Tuesday night and so did Oxnard in a 78-76 Channel League loss last month.

Dos Pueblos (24-4), which will play Burroughs (19-9) in a quarterfinal at Santa Barbara High tonight, won both games after an opposing player failed to make two free throws in the final seconds.

Mike Meru of Newbury Park made one of two free throws with 10 seconds left in Tuesday’s game to break a 46-46 tie, but sophomore Uthman Ray sank a 10-footer with four seconds left to give Dos Pueblos the victory.

Oxnard had a 76-75 lead over Dos Pueblos with five seconds left in last month’s game, but the Chargers’ Ryan Holbrook made a three-pointer at the buzzer after the Yellowjackets’ Damian Tafoya missed two free throws.

“You don’t give the defending Channel League champions an opportunity to beat you because they will and they did,” Oxnard Coach Henry Lobo said.

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Bell-Jeff (18-12), No. 3-seeded team in Division IV-A, will advance to its first section title game since 1988 with a victory over No. 2 Serra (21-8) in a semifinal at L.A. Harbor College tonight.

The Guards might not want to know more about that 1988 title game. Beaumont’s Scott Haskins scored 58 points in a 80-66 victory.

Staff writers Paige A. Leech and John Ortega contributed to this notebook.