CdM rolling into playoffs

Sixteen straight wins is how the Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball team closed out the regular season.

Coach Ryan Schachter said the Sea Kings’ reward was an unfavorable one heading into the CIF Southern Section playoffs.

CdM, Estancia, Sage Hill and Newport Harbor learned of their draws Sunday at the section headquarters in Los Alamitos. Schachter is the lone coach out of four local programs unhappy about his team’s opening-round game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

The day the first round is set also rubbed Schachter the wrong way.

The Sea Kings are one of three Newport-Mesa teams opening the postseason at home. CdM (22-3) plays Diamond Ranch of Pomona (10-15) in Division III-A. Estancia (15-11) plays Lawndale (11-15) in Division IV-AA. And Sage Hill (16-7) plays Cantwell Sacred Heart of Montebello (10-17) in Division V-AA.

Newport Harbor (11-15) is at Mayfair of Lakewood (17-9) in Division II-A.

The Lightning and Sailors return to the postseason after missing it last season. CdM and Estancia advanced last season and their experiences lasted one round.

The Sea Kings are the one local team than can make a run at a section championship. Their opening game won’t be a pushover.

“We can lose in the first round or make a good run,” said Schachter, who led the Sea Kings to their third Pacific Coast League title in his four seasons at the school. “Our division is the deepest and toughest out of [the 12 in the section]. I’d rather be in Division I-AA than our division.

“I’m not happy. We got a very good team in the first round, and for a fifth seed, we shouldn’t have. There [are] lots of draws in other divisions that don’t make sense either.”

The Sea Kings’ road to the title will be a lot more difficult than the one they went through to win the section crown in 2006-07.

The talent is there for CdM — with junior guards Danny Cheek, Ramon Mejia and Clayton Ragsdale — to return to the top. Diamond Ranch will try to upend the Sea Kings.

The Panthers placed third in the competitive Miramonte League, which is home to Bonita and Charter Oak, teams ranked Nos. 8 and 12, respectively, in the final Division III-A coaches’ poll.

Diamond Ranch and CdM have one common opponent: Tustin. The Tillers blew out the Sea Kings and Panthers in December. Since then, the Sea Kings have only lost once, to Foothill, the No. 2 seed in Division III-AA.

The top four seeds in Division III-A are Serra of Gardena (25-2), followed by Harvard-Westlake of North Hollywood (22-4), Centennial of Compton (21-5) and Gahr of Cerritos (22-4). The Sea Kings, who came in ranked No. 5, are one of the hottest teams.

If the Sea Kings continue their stellar winning streak, they will have a tough second-round game, most likely against San Marcos of Santa Barbara (23-4).

“San Marcos played Ocean View hard and beat Santa Margarita,” Schachter said of two teams ranked Nos. 1 and 11, respectively, in Division III-AA.

“Every team wants to end their season on a winning streak, but we’re going to have our hands full.”

Estancia feels the same way, having to face an athletic Lawndale team in the first round for the second straight season.

The Eagles are making their third straight postseason appearance under Coach Agustin Heredia. The Eagles might get a boost at home against Lawndale, which finished fourth in the Pioneer League.

Heredia said senior Kohl Jones expects to return after he missed the final four Orange Coast League games with torn ligaments in his left ankle. Heredia said Jones, the team’s leading scorer, has a brace on the ankle.

“His timing might be off,” Heredia said of Jones, who last practiced on Jan. 26, the day he injured the ankle. “He was in a cast until Friday, so we’ll see how he feels running on it. We’re going to have to run up and down because Lawndale likes to push the pace.”

The Eagles, the league’s No. 2 representative, almost upset the Cardinals last season on the road. Troy McClanahan hit 12 three-pointers, but Lawndale held on for a 72-71 victory. Heredia said the night was the kind some players have in the playoffs due to many of the teams being unfamiliar with one another.

The playoffs are something new to Sage Hill’s Jeff Beeler.

The third-year coach has the Lightning in the postseason after they placed second in the Academy League. Sage Hill plays Cantwell Sacred Heart, an at-large team out of the Camino Real League.

The two programs enter the game struggling. The Lightning dropped their final two games and the Cardinals have lost four of six.

Mark Loper leads Sage Hill, one win away from a school single-season record. The junior guard is averaging 14.6 points per game.

The Sailors are back in the playoffs after their string of 12 straight appearances ended last season, when Coach Larry Hirst was on sabbatical.

With Hirst back, Newport Harbor received an at-large berth after a fourth-place finish in the Sunset League. The Sailors are up against a talented Mayfair team. The Suburban League champion Monsoons are ranked No. 8.

Newport Harbor won’t have 6-foot-6 center Cody Caldwell, who was dismissed after violating team rules. Caldwell was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder until he missed the final four league games, all of which the Sailors lost.

“I kept telling them, ‘We need to win one or two games down the road, because you don’t want the committee to see us lose four in a row,’” Hirst said. “Us getting [in as an at-large team] just goes to show how good of a league we’re in.

“Everybody has kind of chipped in a little bit [with Caldwell out].”