Big night in Golden State as four nationally-ranked teams move on to Saturday's regional semifinals.
A huge Thursday night of playoff basketball in California set up a final eight in the
Division I bracket that will feature three nationally-ranked teams. Regional semifinal games will be played Saturday.
No. 6
Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) survived
Etiwanda 66-63 behind 17 points from USC-bound guard
Alexis Moore. The Jackrabbits' next opponent, No. 21
Mater Dei (Santa Ana), also struggled to advance against
Loyola (Los Angeles). The Monarchs trailed by as many as nine points in the second half before escaping with a 72-70 victory.
Alexis Moore, Long Beach Poly
File photo by Heston Quan
On the bottom half of the Southern California bracket, No. 18
Taft (Woodland Hills) will take on
Centennial (Corona) Saturday after both notched impressive quarterfinal wins.
In Northern California,
Castro Valley will meet
Oakland and
Sheldon (Sacramento) takes on
De La Salle (Concord) in regional semifinal play Saturday.
The Golden State's Division II state tournament also features a nationally-ranked team. No. 7
Lincoln (San Diego) throttled
Clovis North (Fresno) 71-49, moving on to Saturday's regional semis.
The highest-ranked team in action Thursday also moved one step closer to its season-long goal in Georgia. No. 3
Milton dominated
Tift County (Tifton) 75-53, getting 27 points from Furman signee
Jordan Loyd. The Eagles now get a rematch with Norcross, a team they beat in November and controversially in last season's AAAAA regional final.
Xcellent 25 state tournament scoreboard
Georgia Class AAAAA semifinalNo. 3
Milton 75,
Tift County (Tifton) 53
Jordan Loyd, Milton: 27 points
California Division I regional quarterfinalsNo. 6
Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 66,
Etiwanda 63
Alexis Moore, Long Beach Poly: 17 points
California Division II regional quarterfinalsNo. 7
Lincoln (San Diego) 71,
Clovis North (Fresno) 49
California Division I regional quarterfinalsNo. 18
Taft (Woodland Hills) 65,
La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 43
California Division I regional quarterfinalsNo. 21
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 72,
Loyola (Los Angeles) 70
Texas Class 4A semifinalNo. 23
Kimball (Dallas) 50,
Cedar Park 36
Jalen Jones, Kimball: 19 points