BOYS’ BASKETBALL

El Modena Coach Roger MacLachlan didn’t learn his team was eligible to compete in the Southern Section boys’ basketball playoffs until friends called to inform him Sunday afternoon.

Problem was, by then it was too late. The section’s deadline for petitions to enter the playoffs had passed, and even if MacLachlan wanted his Vanguards to compete, they couldn’t.

Luckily, it turned out he didn’t.

“It wouldn’t have mattered if I had known about this two weeks ago,” MacLachlan said. “It’s not like I would have petitioned anyway. We’re not deserving to be in the playoffs.”

MacLachlan was under the impression his team was a nonqualifier because it finished fourth in the Century League and had an overall record of 8-18.

But unbeknownst to MacLachlan, El Modena, which already had registered forfeit victories over Tustin and Laguna Beach, had been awarded two more forfeit wins, bumping it up to the 10-win plateau necessary to petition the section for a playoff berth.

Although 19 other Orange County coaches chose to compete under the 10-win rule, MacLachlan shrugged off the idea of participating in the playoffs after a lackluster season.

“We were 2-8 in our league. Be serious,” he said. “Even if we did go as a third-place team [from league] or a fourth-place qualifying team, we’d probably play the No. 1 seed, and that’s just not smart for our kids.”

* Garden Grove will play at Redondo Union as scheduled Friday night in a first-round Southern Section Division II-AA boys’ basketball playoff game.

The matchup came into question Sunday when section officials announced they would hold a hearing to determine if Bay League champion Inglewood, would have to forfeit four league games for allegedly using an ineligible player.

If Inglewood was forced to forfeit the games, it would have taken Redondo’s place against the Argonauts.

But the section on Monday took no action against the Sentinels.