California boys basketball championship game previews

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.