Beach Bash final four is must-watch hoops
Corona del Mar High’s Beach Bash hasn’t been around for that long, only five years. In a short time, the Beach Bash has turned into one of the top early season boys’ basketball tournaments in Orange County.
The 16-team tournament began on Monday and it will end Saturday. This year, CdM and rival Newport Harbor played host to games, but the semifinals and finale are at CdM.
There are some nice semifinal matchups on Friday. Edison, which reached the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA finals last season, is playing JSerra, a Division 4AA quarterfinalist, at 7 p.m.
The other semifinal, which is expected to tip off at 8:30 p.m., has Bellflower St. John Bosco, a Division 1AA semifinalist last season, going up against San Bernardino Cajon, which reached the Division 1A second round.
The championship game is on Saturday at 8:30 p.m., and there could be an issue if JSerra and St. John Bosco qualify for it because they’re in the Trinity League. A lot of teams in the same league don’t usually want to play each other before league tips off in January.
“I’ll leave it up to them,” CdM Coach Ryan Schachter said on whether JSerra and St. John Bosco would want to play against each other. “I’m sure St. John Bosco [Coach Matt Dunn] doesn’t care.”
Schachter said his Sea Kings won’t face Pacific Coast League foe University in their last game in the tournament, no matter what happened in the CdM-Trabuco Hills contest that was played late on Thursday.
While the winner should have advanced to Saturday’s fifth- and sixth-place game to play the winner between University and Long Beach Jordan, Schachter said CdM will play Long Beach Jordan, and Trabuco Hills will have University.
“It’s not a big deal,” Schachter said of not having to battle a league opponent. “It’s not like we’re in a championship or anything.”
Mater Dei, the two-time defending Beach Bash champion, couldn’t make the tournament this year.
Schachter said the Monarchs missed the tournament because they had a one-day showcase Saturday at the Hoophall West Classic in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Monarchs play St. Mary’s, from Phoenix.
“He said he wanted to come back next year,” Schachter said of Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight. “If they do, I don’t think we’ll have St. John Bosco and JSerra [in next year’s tournament]. Getting St. John Bosco and JSerra in together was a little dicey because JSerra, [its] coach [Zach Brogdon] is new. He didn’t want to play any Trinity League teams.”
Newport Harbor, Sage Hill, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa are the other four local programs at the Beach Bash, and all dropped their openers.
The Sailors and Barons did bounce back on Wednesday.
Newport Harbor defeated the Lightning, 71-41, to advance to the consolation semifinals. Newport Harbor plays Brea Olinda on Friday at 4 p.m.
Fountain Valley knocked off Costa Mesa, 45-34, to set up a semifinal date with Whittier in the consolation round on Friday at 5:30 p.m.
“I think it’s been a pretty competitive field,” Schachter said.
