El Toro Gets Quick Turnaround

Little sleep, some preparation.

That’s the way the Southern California Regional Division I playoffs began this week for the Lake Forest El Toro boys’ basketball team.

The Chargers took care of visiting Oceanside El Camino, 65-58, in a first-round game Monday, earning a trip today to Westchester to take on the top-seeded Comets.

Normally, no games are played on the Monday following the Southern Section finals. But this year, first-round games were played between four of the five Division I runners-up from the Southern, City, San Diego and Central sections.

El Toro (26-6), which lost to hot-shooting Aliso Viejo Aliso Niguel, 67-60, in the Division I-A championship game Saturday in the Arrowhead Pond, learned Sunday afternoon that it would play Monday.

That didn’t seem to faze the Chargers, who remained calm even while giving up the last 13 points to El Camino after pulling most of their starters with about three minutes to play.

“I think it’s fun to just come back and play again,” said senior point guard Kelvin Kim. “Especially coming home after playing at the Pond is just the greatest feeling in the world.”

El Toro, which starts four seniors, is fortunate to be able to tap into its experience this week. Kim is a three-year starter, and Jon Johnson and Darryl Best are four-year starters.

“We know time is running out for a lot of us, so we try to take advantage of every game,” said Kim, who had 15 points and seven assists against El Camino. “Make the best of every opportunity we have.”

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Shortly after winning Southern Section boys’ basketball titles Saturday in the Arrowhead Pond, Compton Dominguez Coach Russell Otis and Santa Ana Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight reasoned why their teams deserved to be seeded No. 1 in the Southern California Regional Division II playoffs that start today.

Somewhere in San Diego, members of Spring Valley Steele Canyon were probably thinking the same.

Speculation ended Sunday when defending state champion Dominguez was seeded No. 1 in the division, which could be the most competitive of the five. The Dons (24-5) begin play tonight against visiting San Diego Scripps Ranch. Mater Dei (28-3) was seeded second and will play host to Tulare Western at Huntington Beach Ocean View, and third-seeded Steele Canyon (29-1) will play host to Ontario Colony.

A higher seeding is especially beneficial in the Southern California Regional playoffs, where the winner of each division will play for a state title March 18-19 in Sacramento. The higher-seeded teams are the hosts during the first two rounds. The championship games are scheduled to be played Saturday in the Sports Arena.

“It really was not much of an advantage in the [Southern Section playoffs],” said McKnight, following his team’s 85-51 victory over Colony in the Division II-A title game. “We were the No. 1 seed and we had one home game and two on the road.”

Dominguez, which is ranked No. 16 by USA Today, knocked off City Section champion Westchester, Southern Section Division I-AA champion Etiwanda and nationally ranked Jersey City (N.J.) St. Anthony.

“I think we played the toughest schedule,” Otis said.

-- Dan Arritt

Girls’ Basketball

Perris didn’t provide much of a match for Fullerton Troy in the Southern Section Division II-AA title game, a 60-30 loss, but the Panthers feel good about drawing the No. 2 team, San Diego Section champion Spring Valley Mt. Miguel (29-1), tonight for the first round of the Southern California Regional playoffs.

Mt. Miguel defeated Lakeside El Capitan three times this season, the last two by seven and six points, including a 53-47 victory Saturday in the section championship.

Perris (24-8) lost to Lakeside El Capitan, 56-54, on Jan. 15 in a game it led by 14 points at halftime and 17 in the third quarter.

“We know they’re a really good team, that we have to go there to play, but we’re feeling pretty good about our draw,” Perris Coach Marvin Williams said. “We didn’t play very well offensively against Troy, but if we can play the same type of defense and put the ball in the hole, we feel we’ll be OK.”

Mt. Miguel’s only loss was to Moreno Valley Canyon Springs, 63-57.

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Brentwood Coach David Smith was crediting Troy, Newhall Hart, Etiwanda, Long Beach Millikan and Torrance Bishop Montgomery for his team’s second consecutive championship. Those are the heavyweight teams that the Division IV-AA champion, led by Brianne Brown and Tani Brown, has played this season.

“Troy really prepared us; they showed us where we were vulnerable,” Smith said. “We got close to Hart, and we got over the hump against Bishop Montgomery. We had confidence. We got the sense that this team was meant to be a champion

“We know our defense is one of the toughest in the Southern Section and that we can hang with anybody.”

It was that confidence that made Smith make an important decision during his team’s 53-47 victory over L.A. Windward on Friday. Windward led, 11-8, when the Eagles went on a 10-0 run.

“They almost had us to the point where we were going to take off the pressure and I said, ‘No, we’re going to stick with it.’ ”

-- Martin Henderson