Boys basketball: Newport-Mesa quartet embarks on playoff road

Barry Faulkner

CERRITOS - Though the familiarity factor diminishes considerably,

Pacific Coast League boys basketball teams from Corona del Mar, Costa

Mesa and Estancia high schools will count on the steady flow of intensity

their league campaign provided to hold them in good stead when the CIF

Southern Section Division III-AA playoffs tip off this week.

Similarly, Newport Harbor (17-8), the second-place finisher in the Sea

View League, will continue to test its mettle in the II-AA bracket,

beginning Friday at home against Gahr (19-7).

PCL champion CdM (20-6), the No. 3 seed in III-AA after making the III-A

final a year ago, gets a first-round bye Wednesday. Coach Paul Orris’ Sea

Kings, who earned their first outright league crown since 1987, will host

either Cabrillo or Northview Friday.

“I thought the PCL this season prepared us very well for the playoffs,

because every team we played in league was solid and there were no easy

touches,” said Orris, whose Sea Kings moved to the PCL from the Sea View

League after last season.

“The PCL was very similar to what the Sea View League had been for us the

last couple years,” Orris said Sunday at the section office, where

pairings were released. “And I always thought playing in that league was

to our great advantage when we entered the playoffs.”

Costa Mesa and Estancia, both at-large entries in the III-AA bracket

(which combined former III-AA and III-A schools into one division), are

both hopeful their rugged league seasons can help them produce some

postseason surprises.

“I wouldn’t want to play us in the first round,” said Mesa Coach Bob

Serven, whose Mustangs (17-9) visit Rio Hondo League champion Monrovia

(22-2) Wednesday.

“Our kids are excited to be in the playoffs (for the first time since all

schools were admitted in 1992). Teams better be prepared to play us,

because every game was a playoff game in the PCL.”

Coach Rich Boyce’s Estancia squad (14-12), which finished 2-6 in the PCL,

but was 4-1 against Sea View schools in nonleague play, including a 60-54

December win over Sea View champion Woodbridge, visits Verbum Dei (15-11)

Wednesday.

“Our kids believe we have a chance against anyone in our division,” Boyce

said. “I think 70% of our games were against Division I teams this year.

And there was no better way to prepare for the playoffs than the PCL this

year.”

If Estancia can get hot, a potential Feb. 22 quarterfinal date with CdM

could be in the offing.

CdM swept the Eagles in league, but the latest meeting, Feb. 4 at the Sea

Kings’ gym, required the hosts to overcome a 13-point fourth-quarter

deficit to escape with a 58-55 triumph.

If victorious Wednesday, Estancia would likely have to knock off Notre

Dame of Sherman Oaks (20-6) to make the quarterfinals.

The Eagles’ first-round foe, Verbum Dei, lost to CdM, 50-39, in the

Sonora Tournament in December.

Newport, which dropped two of its final three league games to lose its

grasp on the Sea View crown, faces a Gahr squad which compiled the

majority of its losses (two each) to nationally top-ranked Dominguez of

Compton (a San Gabriel Valley League rival) and Orange League champion

Brea Olinda (20-6).

Should the Tars get past the Gladiators, they would likely meet Brea in

the second round Feb. 22. From there, should the draw hold form, No.

2-seeded Chapparal (24-3) would loom in the Feb. 25 quarterfinals.

“We’re pretty worried about Gahr and, in the back of our mind, thinking

about Brea,” Harbor Coach Larry Hirst said.

Bishop Montgomery (20-5) is the No. 1 seed in III-AA, followed by San

Dimas (23-3), CdM and Harvard-Westlake (20-5).

The aforementioned Dominguez Dons, who handled then-No. 1-ranked Oak Hill

Academy from Virginia Feb. 5 at Long Beach State, are No. 1 in II-AA.

The III-AA title game is scheduled March 3 at Loyola Marymount; the II-AA

final March 4 at the Arrowhead Pond.