Regional Basketball Pairings Are Set

Boys’ basketball teams from Mater Dei, Dominguez, Bishop Montgomery and Price, and girls’ teams from Narbonne and Harvard-Westlake are top-seeded in their divisions for the Southern California regional of the state tournament, the California Interscholastic Federation announced Sunday.

First-round games in all divisions are Tuesday, semifinals Thursday. Finals in divisions I, II and IV are Saturday at the Forum. Championship games in divisions III and V are Saturday at the Pyramid.

Regional winners advance to the state finals at ARCO Arena in Sacramento March 16-17.

Mater Dei, which won the Southern Section Division I-A title Saturday with a 73-62 victory over Corona Centennial, received the No. 1 seed in Division I. City Section champion Westchester is second, Fresno Clovis West third and Torrey Pines fourth.

Mater Dei (29-2) plays host to No. 8 Glendora (27-4), Westchester (28-1) plays host to No. 7 Corona Centennial (28-3), No. 5 Upland (31-1) plays at Torrey Pines (30-3), and No. 6 Fremont (20-7) plays at Clovis West (29-2) in Division I first-round games.

“We want to see Mater Dei [in the final],” Westchester guard Brandon Heath said after the Comets’ victory over Fremont Saturday in the City final. “We want to see them bad.”

The girls’ Division I bracket features defending state champion Narbonne (24-3), second-seeded Lynwood (26-2), third-seeded Troy (27-4) and fourth-seeded Buena (28-1).

San Clemente (28-3), which won the Southern Section I-AA title, must travel to Narbonne for a first-round game. Troy, which handed Buena its first loss Saturday in the Southern Section I-A final, is on the road at San Diego Mt. Carmel (28-3).

Buena plays a first-round game at Clovis West (26-5) and could meet Narbonne in the semifinals. Buena defeated Narbonne, 71-61, at home Feb. 3.

Lynwood, which defeated Narbonne in its season-opener, plays host to City runner-up Westchester (23-8).

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COMPLETE PAIRINGS, D15