California boys basketball championship game previews

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The creation of the Open Division was largely set up to start an exciting, high-powered, top-tier tournament while opening the door for new programs to get a taste of state finals play in the lower divisions.

Judging from the initial 2013 matchups, mission accomplished.

Two nationally-ranked juggernauts, Mater Dei and Archbishop Mitty, a pair of two-time defending state champions, will take center stage and culminate the CIF's first six-division, 12-game tournament.

Meanwhile, Division I, II and III games feature programs which have combined for just five state title game appearances. Pleasant Grove-Elk Grove (D1), College Park-Pleasant Hill (D2) and Redondo Union (D2) all are making a first entrance into the elite championship event.

After winning three of five games last year, Southern California has taken a 94-49 lead overall in the modern championship games, which started in 1981.

SoCal owns edges in four of the five divisions: I (25-7), II (22-9), III (17-13) and IV (18-7). The North owns a 13-12 edge in Division V.

Here is a capsule look at all six divisions:

OPEN DIVISION, 8 p.m. Saturday

Mater Dei (Santa Ana) (33-2) vs. Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) (28-5)

WIN STREAKS: Mater Dei 3, Mitty 11

STATE RECORD: Mater Dei 9-4, Mitty 2-2



STATE RANKINGS (MaxPreps.com): Mater Dei No. 1, Mitty No. 2

TERRIFIC TRIOS: Mater Dei – F Stanley Johnson, G Elijah Brown, G Jordan Strawberry. Mitty — F Aaron Gordon, F Brandon Farrell, G Connor Peterson

POINTS PER GAME (ALLOWED): Mater Dei 72.1 (49.7), Mitty 65.3 (54.4)

GAME ON: Terrific matchup and storylines, the best perhaps being the showdown between multi-talented 6-foot-7 forwards Johnson (19.2 points, 8.7 rebounds per game), one of the best juniors in the country, and Gordon (22.9 points, 16.5 rebounds, 3.5 blocks per game), one of the top seniors.

Gordon guarded Sheldon's top player, Darin Johnson, in Saturday's surprising 70-50 win and held the high-scoring 6-4 shooting guard to no field goals and six points. Stanley Johnson, who played with Gordon on the Oakland Soldiers' AAU team this summer, is a much different player than Darin Johnson.

Stanley Johnson is strong and physical, like Gordon, an inside presence. Add to that the Mater Dei standout is a capable three-point shooter with 52 of them this season.

Mater Dei is a tremendous three-point shooting team with 251 this season — 7.2 per game — led by Brown (60), Johnson, James McGee (52) and Mario Soto (36). Soto, a two-year starter, came down with plantar fasciitis just before regionals and is out for the season.

Despite losing their top two players from last year's title team — Katlin Reinhardt (UNLV) and Xavier Johnson (Colorado) — the state's winningest coach Gary McKnight simply plugged in some holes and got Mater Dei off and running again.



Brown, the son of former Lakers' coach Mike Brown, has been superb at 17.5 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

McKnight said he had a good sense about the squad following a sparkling 36-4 summer that was played largely without Stanley Johnson and point guard Jordan Strawberry.

Mater Dei is trying to become the first program in state history to win three consecutive large-school division titles.

"I didn't know what we had heading into the summer," McKnight said last month. "But the kids really jelled and shared the ball and played exceptionally well offensively. We played better offensively than we are now. But our strength overall has been on defense. These guys really get after it."

They'll need to on Saturday to slow down Gordon, who had 29 points and a record 22 rebounds in the victory over Sheldon. In the state title game last season at Sleep Train, he had 33 points and 20 rebounds.

"I always say (Gordon) plays best when the lights shine the brightest," Mitty coach Tim Kennedy said. "I could say all sorts of things about him but ultimately the best thing is he just won't let us lose."



Said McKnight: "(Gordon) is as talented a player as I've seen at this level. He's going to be in the NBA in a couple of years. He's that good. … But he has a lot of good players around him too."

Plenty surrounded him against Sheldon, with Peterson holding down the point, athletic 6-6 Farrell crashing the boards and Brandon Abajelo and Davis Messer, among others, hitting clutch shots and playing superb transition defense.

They'll have to do the same against Mater Dei, which loves to push and shoot.

"They're tough on the boards too," Kennedy said. "We can't allow ourselves to give them second chances."

Stanley Johnson got a second-half chance last week after going 0-for-10 in the first half of the team's 60-37 win over Etiwanda, a team it lost to in the Southern Section semifinals.

Like his team, Johnson took advantage of the two extra periods, hitting four three-pointers and scoring 16 of his game-high 25 in the third quarter.



"Our seniors are good," Johnson told Ronnie Flores of Calhisports.com. "They know how to play and we can't seem to convince people how good our coaches are."

With 967 wins, a state record nine state titles and a 92 percent winning percentage, McKnight has a pretty good record.

He's beaten Mitty twice, in fact, for back-to-back state Division II titles starting in 2006-07. Those Mitty teams were led by Gordon's older brother Drew.

"Little Gordon (Aaron) isn't going to be too happy we beat his brother," McKnight told Flores. "We'll head up there Friday and go to the Spaghetti Factory and make a night of it."

Click 'Next' for the rest of the state championship previews.{PAGEBREAK}DIVISION I, 8 p.m. Friday

Santa Monica  (29-6) vs. Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) (27-6)

WIN STREAKS: Santa Monica 11, Pleasant Grove 3

STATE RECORD: Santa Monica 0-1, Pleasant Grove 0-0

STATE RANKINGS (MaxPreps.com): Santa Monica No. 12, Pleasant Grove No. 19

TERRIFIC TRIOS: Santa Monica – G Jordan Mathews, G Troy Maloney, F Erron Vaughn. Pleasant Grove — G Malik Thames, F Cole Nordquist, G Matthew Hayes



POINTS PER GAME (ALLOWED): Santa Monica 67.0 (53.2), Pleasant Grove 67.7 (52.2)

GAME ON: Though Santa Monica is listed as 0-1 in state-title games, it's somewhat misleading. The Vikings lost a 26-12 contest to Stockton in 1928, the last time the state championships were held before taking a 53-year hiatus when they started up again in 1981.

Santa Monica didn't exactly breeze through the Southern California regional. In fact it barely survived its opener, defeating Narbonne 73-68 in overtime.

But behind the strong play of 6-3 Cal-bound Mathews, the Vikings put it together and avenged two earlier losses to Loyola in a 53-50 regional final victory behind Mathews, who drilled a NBA-range three-point bucket with 2.5 seconds left. Mathews had a game-high 19 points.

"I thought all week it could come down to that, so I thought to myself, ‘No way we're going to lose to those guys three times in one season," Matthews said.

Maloney, a 6-3 senior, added 17 in the regional finals. Other top players are Vaughn (5-10), Trevis Jackson (6-0) and Chris Smith (6-5).

Pleasant Grove, which surprised top-seed Deer Valley (Antioch), 73-60, is also guard-oriented and led by Thames, a 6-1 point guard averaging 17.8 points per game and 6-foot shooting guard Hayes (14.6).



Hayes had a game-high 20 versus Deer Valley and seemed to have no trouble shooting at Sleep Train, where prep kids often have trouble connecting from the perimeter.

Nordquist, a 6-5 senior, is the team's second-leading scorer at 15.0 and he had 16 points and 12 rebounds versus Deer Valley. Marquese Chriss, a 6-7 junior, and Matthew Smrekar, a 6-0 senior, largely do the dirty work down low for a team that knows and executes its roles beautifully.

"Perseverance is a great word to describe this team," Pleasant Grove coach John DePonte said after the Deer Valley win. "Resilient. They never lost sight of what they had to do. I can't express how proud of them I am."

DIVISION II, 4 p.m. Saturday

Redondo Union (Redondo Beach) (27-8) vs. College Park (Pleasant Hill) (26-5)

WIN STREAKS: Redondo Union 20, College Park 4

STATE RECORD: Redondo Union 0-0, College Park 0-0

STATE RANKINGS (MaxPreps.com): Redondo Union No. 22, College Park No. 83

TERRIFIC TRIOS: Redondo Union – PG Ian Fox, G Derek Biale, G Darrien Touchstone. College Park — F Seb Flores, G Mikey Eggleton, F Joe DeMers

POINTS PER GAME (ALLOWED): Redondo Union 60.8 (50.5), College Park 67.2 (51.2)

GAME ON: Here is truly an underdog tale.



Redondo Union was 10-17 last year, but hired magic man Reggie Morris Jr. to turn things around and he promptly won his third Southern Section title in four years with a third team.

It wasn't promptly per se, as Redondo Union started the season 7-8, before rattling off 20 straight wins behind a balanced and guard-oriented bunch led by Fox (15.4 ppg) and Biale (13.2), a pair of 6-1 guards who have combined for a gaudy 137 three-pointers.

The team's ball-hawking defense — the Sea Hawks average almost 11 steals per game — leads to fastbreak offense. Redondo forced 23 turnovers in a 60-48 regional final win over top seed J.W. North-Riverside.

Touchstone (6-2), Chris Henderson (6-4) and Sebastian Lindner (6-7) are other starters for the Sea Hawks.

"We're playing with a lot of heart and determination," Morris Jr. said. "The 20-game win streak doesn't mean anything. We just have one game to go."

College Park made the NorCal tournament when Division II power Newark Memorial was called up to the Open Division. Once in, the 11th seed (out of 12) defeated three teams on the road by margins of three, eight and three points before scoring a remarkable 93-90 win over top-seed Dublin in the highest-scoring regional final (all Divisions) in NorCal history.



Without a player taller than 6-3 in the rotation, the Falcons rely on ball movement, three-point shooting and sheer tenacity.

In the Dublin game, Flores scored 23 points, Eggleton 21, A.J. Newell 16 and DeMers, the national baseball Freshman of the Year in 2012, had 15.

The hero, of all people, was Peter Schoemann, who hit a 3-pointer with 6.8 seconds left in overtime. As unlikely as College Park's state-title run was, so was the game-winning shot. It bounced off the front iron straight into the air and into the hoop.

"We showed nothing but guts," College Park coach Craig Battle said after the game. "We persevered. We've been doing it all season long."

Click 'Next' for the rest of the state championship previews.{PAGEBREAK} DIVISION III, 4 p.m. Friday

St. Augustine (San Diego) (28-4) vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) (21-11)

WIN STREAKS: St. Augustine 13, Sacred Heart Cathedral 5

STATE RECORD: St. Augustine 0-1, Sacred Heart Cathedral 1-2

STATE RANKINGS (MaxPreps.com): St. Augustine No. 5, Sacred Heart Cathedral No. 33

TERRIFIC TRIOS: St. Augustine – G Brynton Lemar, G Trey Kell, G Brent Jones. Sacred Heart Cathedral — G Herman Pratt IV, G Khalil James, G DeOndre Otis.



POINTS PER GAME (ALLOWED): St. Augustine 66.5 (44.9), Sacred Heart Cathedral 56.8 (53.6)

GAME ON: When St. Augustine opened the season by allowing just 17 points, it figured to be a pretty good year.

When the Saints then beat Horizon, which eventually won the Southern California Division V title, by 41, it figured to be a very good season.

And then when they knocked off defending Division IV state champion and Northern California No. 1 squad Salesian (Richmond) by 14, then it was obvious this would be an exceptional season.

The Saints enter with an average 21.5 points margin per victory based largely on their defense, which has allowed less than 40 points 10 times.

The Davis-bound Lemar, a 6-3 guard, scored 24 in the team's regional final win over Chaminade, Kell, a 6-4 junior, had 17 points and post Drew Madsen, a 6-5 senior, had 10 rebounds as St. Augustine held a massive 44-26 edge on the boards.

That doesn't bode well for Sacred Heart Cathedral, which returns to the Division III finals despite losing three starters, including Division I 6-6 forwards Josh Fox and Taylor Johns.



The Irish don't have a player taller than 6-2 on the roster and instead rely on defense, hustle and quickness. Their two leaders are three-year lettermen Pratt, a 6-foot senior, and James, a 5-9 senior point guard.

Otis, a 5-11 junior guard, is the team's best shooter and can supply instant offense, while Liam O'Reilly is the team's second-best rebounder and fourth-leading scorer.

Playing out of the rugged West Catholic Athletic League has definitely toughened the Irish, who lost all but three of their games to WCAL opponents. Those other three losses were by a total of eight points.

"To a lot of people outside our program I'm sure getting back here was a surprise," Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Darrell Barbour said. "But honestly, we expect to be good every year."

DIVISION IV, 12 p.m. Saturday

Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) (28-4) vs. Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) (32-3)

WIN STREAKS: Pacific Hills 11, Cardinal Newman 3

STATE RECORD: Pacific Hills 1-1, Cardinal Newman 0-3

STATE RANKINGS (MaxPreps.com): Pacific Hills No. 15, Cardinal Newman No. 56.

TERRIFIC TRIOS: Pacific Hills — G Namon Wright, G Jahmel Taylor, G Marcus Jackson. Cardinal Newman — F Corey Hammell , G Kenny Love, G Tim McCullough .



POINTS PER GAME (ALLOWED): Pacific Hills 70.5 (57.8), Cardinal Newman 61.1 (45.0)

GAME ON: Behind the tremendous guard play of Taylor (signed to Washington), Jackson (Rice) and Wright, Pacific Hills advanced to their third state title game following a thrilling 73-69 win over Bishop Montgomery (Torrance).

Taylor filled up the stat sheet with 24 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and six steals while Wright, considered one of the state's top juniors, made 7-of-11 shots and scored 20 points.

Pacific Hills has scored at least 80 points six times this season, topped off with a 104-41 win over Marshall. Following an 81-71 loss to Brentwood (Los Angeles), the Bruins have rattled off 11 in a row, avenging the loss to Brentwood in the Southern Section finals, 74-65, and coming up with four hard-fought wins in the regional, including one over Lutheran (La Verne) (63-56) and Serra (Gardena) (53-50) before the Bishop Montgomery victory.

The Bruins are indeed battle-tested.

They'll face a Cardinal Newman team that has more wins than any in Northern California.

The Cardinals scored an exciting and end-to-end 73-66 regional final win over Riordan behind 26 points from Love, a 6-2 point guard, and 20 points and 12 rebounds by Hammell, a 6-6 senior.



For the season, Hammell is the team's top scorer at 16.2 per game and 11.1 rebounds. Not only a big interior threat, Hammell has made 30 three-pointers and is aggressive near the rim. He's shot a team-high 208 free throws and made 154.

Love is the team's next highest scorer at 11.1 but he's not a big three-point threat with just 10 made. McCullough is the team's third-leading scorer at 8.6 per game.

Newman captured its fourth Northern California title but now seek its first state title.

DIVISION V, 12 p.m. Friday

Horizon (San Diego) (22-11) vs. St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) (24-11)

WIN STREAKS: Horizon 9, St. Joseph 7

STATE RECORD: Horizon 3-1, St. Joseph 4-4

STATE RANKINGS (MaxPreps.com): St. Joseph No. 97, Horizon No. 153

TERRIFIC TRIOS: Horizon — G Cody Underwood, F Darren Carrington, G Markel Byrd. St. Joseph — F Temidayo Yussuf, F Lamont Banks, F Justin Brown.

POINTS PER GAME (ALLOWED): Horizon 58.0 (54.7), St. Joseph 53.7 (48.2).

GAME ON: It's not often teams with double-digit losses reach the state finals. But two?



Both squads are extremely battle-tested and overcame slow starts to not only enter the game with winning streaks but also strong state histories.

Horizon, led by Underwood, a 6-1 guard averaging 14.5 points per game, is after its fourth state title. Oregon-bound football player Carrington (10.4 ppg) adds more quickness to team with seven players below 6-foot.

Underwood had 17 points in a 54-36 win over San Gabriel Academy in the regional finals, Byrd added 12 and Carrington 10. Byrd is another football standout.

"The difference is we're the best conditioned team in the state — make that the nation," Horizon coach Tyrone Hopkins told San Diego Union-Tribune writer Steve Brand after the regional title win.

St. Joseph, under legendary coach Don Lippi, has won three-straight regional titles and with 50-36 win over Capital Christian (Sacramento), he won his 726th game. Not all have been with St. Joseph.

In fact, Lippi has won section titles with four different programs.



This team is based largely on power, led by junior Yussuf, a 6-7 forward who averages more than 15 points and 10 rebounds per game. Banks, a 6-4 sophomore who started as a freshman, is a another bruiser down low.

Yussuf had 18 points and Marcus Harris, a 5-10 sophomore, drilled five 3-pointers and had 17 points in the win over Capital Christian.