Corona Centennial derails Mater Dei-Poly showdown

Nationally-ranked Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) and Mater Dei (Santa Ana) seemed destined to meet in California's Southern Section Division I-AA championship game.

The Jackrabbits and Monarchs entered Tuesday night's semifinals at the Anaheim Convention Center ranked No. 6 and No. 13, respectively, in this week's Xcellent 25 with a combined record of 54-3.

Mater Dei looked to be holding up its end of the scenario against Centennial (Corona), building a 15-point first-half lead. But Long Beach State signee Michael Caffey helped the Huskies fight back with a game-high 23 points and Chris Popov sank a pair of free throws with under five seconds to go to give Centennial a 60-58 win.

While Centennial advances to Saturday's final, all is not lost for Mater Dei. The Monarchs will now devote their attention to winning the CIF Division I state title. First-round play in the Southern California bracket begins next Tuesday.

Long Beach Poly was in danger of suffering the same fate against Etiwanda, but pulled away late for a 60-53 victory.

Super sophomore Roschon Prince paced the Jackrabbits with 19 points as they outscored Etiwanda 17-10 in the fourth quarter. Prince is averaging 12.2 points and 4.8 rebounds per game on the season, but has upped his production to over 15 points and nine rebounds per game in four postseason contests.

Poly will face Centennial in the I-AA final Saturday at the Anaheim Convention Center.

Other Xcellent 25 playoff scores

Virginia Group AAA Eastern Region championship (Monday)
No. 5 Norcom (Portsmouth) 51, Phoebus (Hampton) 45

Iowa Class 4A substate final
No. 18 Linn-Mar (Marion) 50, North Scott (Eldridge) 25