St. Francis basketball notches No. 2 seed
In the always-arduous Mission League, St. Francis basketball struggled down the stretch.
But those struggles certainly didn’t hinder the Golden Knights’ playoff seeding, as they drew the No. 2 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 3-A playoffs.
However, as an at-large team out of the Mission League, the Knights are headed on the road, while La Cañada, Crescenta Valley and Flintridge Prep will all host first-round games, as pairings were released on Sunday by the CIF offices.
Crescenta Valley (20-8), after claiming a share of the Pacific League title, will host 16th-seeded Orange Lutheran (13-14), a Trinity League at-large squad, on Friday. The winner will then likely see top-seeded Long Beach Poly, which hosts Knight, in Tuesday’s second round.
La Cañada (20-6) notched the No. 3 seed in Division 3-A after winning the Rio Hondo League championship and will host Suburban League at-large Glenn (7-19) on Wednesday. Friday’s second round will see the winner face 14th-seeded Lompoc or Excelsior Charter.
St. Francis (15-11) travels to face Yucca Valley, the De Anza League’s second-place finisher. The winner will advance to play No. 15 South El Monte or San Dimas.
Flintridge Prep is making a step up into Division 4-AA and will face a tough Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (10-17), another Mission League at-large team. The Rebels (11-13), despite having won the Prep League, are likely the underdogs against the 10th-seeded Knights. The winner moves on to face No. 7 Pacific Hills or La Salle in Friday’s second round.