Manual Arts Set for Mater Dei Matchup

A capacity crowd is expected tonight at Loyola Marymount where City Section champion Manual Arts will play host to Santa Ana Mater Dei in a Division I semifinal of the Southern California regional of the state tournament.

The game features several intriguing matchups, especially the backcourt battle between Manual Arts’ James Wright and Curtis Millage and Mater Dei’s Derrick Mansell and Steve Scoggin.

The most important matchup, however, could come in the middle, where Manual Arts’ 6-foot-10 senior Johnny Hardwick goes against Mater Dei’s 6-10 sophomore Jamal Sampson.

A historic season continues for the Palisades girls’ basketball team, which advanced to the Division I semifinals with a 53-40 victory over San Clemente Tuesday night.

The top-seeded Dolphins, who won their first City Section championship last week, will be playing in their first regional semifinal tonight when they play host to Oceanside El Camino, a 54-51 winner over El Toro in the first round.

Palisades lost to Palos Verdes Peninsula in the first round of last year’s regional. The two teams could meet again Saturday in the regional final if both win tonight. Peninsula plays Hanford.

For now, however, Palisades co-Coach Joi Tanita is concerned about an El Camino team that surprised many with its victory over El Toro, the Southern Section Division I-AA runner-up.

“We were anticipating that we would be playing El Toro because they are so strong and played so well earlier in the season,” Tanita said. “When we saw the score we were surprised, but we shouldn’t be. El Camino is a No. 4 seed.”

Palisades used its press to turn a 30-18 third-quarter deficit into a 43-30 lead against San Clemente.

“The first half was a good scare,” Tanita said. “It made our kids wake up. We hadn’t had a tough game in a while and the kids were shellshocked. They realized they had to sacrifice and play defense and that’s what did it.”