Leland King and Tra Holder are the top two players for Top 20 state-ranked Brentwood, which could be a D4 state title contender, especially if unbeaten Bishop Montgomery goes to the Open Division. Photo: Ronnie Flores.
San Leandro, San Marcos and a team from San Diego make a splash in this week’s new order. Bishop O’Dowd also gets a bit more of the spotlight as a new top-ranked team in its division.
By Mark Tennis
Contributing: Ronnie Flores, Paul Muyskens
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Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland has moved up to No. 1 in this week’s Division III state rankings in place of previous leader St. John Bosco of Bellflower. The Dragons, however, won’t likely be in the Division III regional playoffs if they win the CIF North Coast Section Division III title as they are eligible to be taken up into the new CIF Open Division bracket.
This week’s other No. 1 teams in the state by division continue to be Long Beach Poly (D1), Archbishop Mitty (D2), Bishop Montgomery (D4) and Village Christian (D5).
All teams have been ranked according to their CIF divisions, but some such as O’Dowd will obviously be pulled up into the new CIF Open Division for the Northern California and Southern California regional playoffs. We have indicated which teams in which divisions are eligible for the Open Division so readers can then visualize which non-Open Division teams may end up battling it out for the various CIF divisional state titles.
Teams in some sections also can petition the CIF to be considered for the open division. This likely isn’t going to happen, though, for any team that is outside top 10 overall in the state.
(After results of Saturday, Feb. 2 with some scores from early this week indicated)
DIVISION I
1. (1) Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 22-2
2. (2) Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 24-1
3. (5) Etiwanda 21-2
4. (3) Sheldon (Sacramento) 18-5
5. (4) Centennial (Corona) 23-2
6. (6) Bullard (Fresno) 20-2
7. (7) Loyola (Los Angeles) 18-6
8. (8) El Camino Real (Woodland Hills) 23-2
9. (9) Deer Valley (Antioch) 18-4
10. (10) Westchester (Los Angeles) 21-6
11. (NR) De La Salle (Concord) 19-3
12. (12) Pleasant Grove (Elk Grove) 19-4
13. (11) Mission Viejo 22-3
14. (NR) San Leandro 18-4
15. (15) West Ranch (Valencia) 17-6
Dropped Out: Previous No. 13 Santa Monica; No. 14 El Toro (Lake Forest).
Eligible for Open Division: Long Beach Poly, Mater Dei, Sheldon, Loyola, Bullard, De La Salle, El Camino Real. It is confirmed from the CIF, by the way, that a team is eligible for the Open Division if it wins a section title in a different division from the year before.
Teams on the Bubble: Bellarmine (San Jose) 15-7, Edison (Fresno) 24-4, El Toro (Lake Forest) 21-5, Inglewood 14-9, Lutheran (Orange) 17-7, Mission Hills (San Marcos) 19-4, Monte Vista (Danville) 17-5, Palo Alto 19-1, Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley) 20-5, San Benito (Hollister) 19-2, San Leandro 16-4, Santa Monica 18-6.
Notes & Highlights: Sheldon and Corona Centennial didn’t drop far in the division for losing games last week because both teams have built solid resumes so far this season and both still are in good shape for strong postseason runs. The big winner of the week was De La Salle of Concord. The Spartans reversed an earlier loss to Monte Vista of Danville and then headed down to the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei and impressed in big win over solid Orange County team Foothill of Tustin. Coach Frank Allocco’s squad also benefited from Mission Viejo taking a loss to Colony of Ontario, Santa Monica losing to Beverly Hills and El Toro falling to Mission Viejo before the Diablos lost to Colony. Since Mission didn’t have point guard Evan Zeller on hand in its loss, the team only dropped two spots in this week’s divisional rankings.
DIVISION II
1. (1) Archbishop Mitty (San Jose) 17-5
2. (3) Serra (San Mateo) 19-3
3. (2) La Costa Canyon (Carlsbad) 20-4
4. (4) J.W. North (Riverside) 22-3
5. (5) Redondo (Redondo Beach) 16-8
6. (6) Newark Memorial (Newark) 14-7
7. (7) Sacramento 18-6
8. (8) El Camino (South San Francisco) 17-4
9. (9) Dublin 18-4
10. (NR) San Marcos 21-3
Dropped Out: Previous No. 10 Thousand Oaks.
Eligible for Open Division: Archbishop Mitty, La Costa Canyon, Newark Memorial.
Teams on the Bubble: College Park (Pleasant Hill) 19-4, Elsinore (Lake Elsinore) 19-6, Hoover (San Diego) 21-5, Morse (San Diego) 20-5, Mt. Eden (Hayward) 17-5, San Ysidro 18-6, Villa Park 19-5, Thousand Oaks 21-5, Westlake (Westlake Village) 20-4.
Notes & Highlights: Mitty hangs on at the top despite a loss to new No. 2 Serra last Saturday night. This is because the Monarchs beat the Padres earlier in the season and their overall schedule is still stronger. The other tough call this week was at the bottom where a replacement for Thousand Oaks (lost last week to Calabasas) needed to be found. The nod went to San Marcos, which hasn’t played as tough a schedule as some other top San Diego D2 teams (like Hoover, Morse and San Ysidro) but did post a quality win last week over 19-4 Mission Hills. The Knights also are ranked higher than those other three teams by the San Diego Union-Tribune. We’ll find out more about that tightly-grouped bunch this week when Hoover and Morse play each other.
DIVISION III
1. (2) Bishop O’Dowd (Oakland) 18-3
2. (1) St. John Bosco (Bellflower) 17-6
3. (3) Hart (Newhall) 23-1
4. (4) Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 20-3
5. (5) St. Augustine (San Diego) 17-4
6. (6) Modesto Christian 21-2
7. (7) Tustin 23-2
8. (8) Leuzinger (Lawndale) 19-5
9. (9) Compton 17-8
10. (10) Independence (Bakersfield) 24-1
Dropped Out: None.
Eligible for Open Division: Bishop O’Dowd, Cathedral Catholic, Modesto Christian, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco).
Teams on the Bubble: Calabasas 21-4, Chaminade (West Hills) 18-6, Colony (Ontario) 18-9, Drake (San Anselmo) 20-4, El Cerrito 17-8, Enterprise (Redding) 19-3, Oak Park (Agoura Hills) 23-3, Sonora (La Habra) 21-3, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 15-7, Santa Barbara 18-4, St. Ignatius (San Francisco) 15-7.
Notes & Highlights: As mentioned above, O’Dowd moving to No. 1 in this division is mostly symbolic because in all likelihood the Dragons will be in the NorCal Open Division. That also was the only move among the top 10 for the week since all other teams except St. John Bosco were winners and we certainly are not going to drop the Braves any more than one spot for losing to Mater Dei and then Long Beach Poly. Colony of Ontario could be a team to watch in the CIFSS Division IIIAAA playoffs based on its 57-55 win last Saturday against D1 ranked Mission Viejo. The Titans also won for the ninth time in 10 games, which includes an avenging win against Montclair.
DIVISION IV
1. (1) Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) 25-0
2. (2) Salesian (Richmond) 21-3
3. (3) Brentwood (Los Angeles) 22-2
4. (4) Pacific Hills (Los Angeles) 19-4
5. (5) Serra (Gardena) 20-6
6. (6) Price (Los Angeles) 21-3
7. (7) Army-Navy (Carlsbad) 19-4
8. (9) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 21-2
9. (10) Lutheran (La Verne) 21-6
10. (NR) Windward (Los Angeles) 16-8
Dropped Out: Previous No. 8 Crespi (Encino).
Eligible for Open Division: Salesian, Pacific Hills, Gardena Serra, Price.
Teams on the Bubble: Archbishop Riordan (San Francisco) 14-8, Colfax 19-5, Crespi (Encino) 18-8, Exeter 17-4, Half Moon Bay 17-4, Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) 16-10, JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) 13-8, Riverbank 21-2, Santa Fe Christian (Solana Beach) 16-6, St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 17-7, St. Mary’s (Berkeley) 16-9.
Notes & Highlights: There’s not much difference between previous No. 8 Crespi and new No. 10 Windward except that the Celts lost twice last week (first to Chaminade, later to Loyola) and Windward was moved one spot ahead of them in the CIFSS Division IVAA rankings. Windward also has a recent win over No. 4 Pacific Hills. If there was no Open Division creating different scenarios, it would sure be easy for Bishop Montgomery coach Doug Mitchell to pump up his players if there was a matchup with Salesian in the D4 state final. Who could ever forget when the two met in the title game in 2009 when Salesian won on a layup at the buzzer following a loose ball scramble in the closing seconds?
DIVISION V
1. (1) Village Christian (Sun Valley) 21-3
2. (2) Capital Christian (Sacramento) 21-2
3. (3) St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) 14-10
4. (4) Flintridge Prep (La Canada) 18-5
5. (5) Central Catholic (Modesto) 21-3
6. (7) Brethren Christian (Huntington Beach) 20-3
7. (8) Brookside Christian (Stockton) 22-1
8. (9) Mission Prep (San Luis Obispo) 17-7
9. (10) Rolling Hills Prep (San Pedro) 15-8
10. (NR) Rock Academy (San Diego) 14-7
Dropped Out: Previous No. 6 Bentley (Lafayette).
Eligible for Open Division: Village Christian, St. Joseph Notre Dame (though it’s unlikely that either would get chosen for that much of a jump in competition)
Teams on the Bubble: Bentley (Lafayette) 20-2, Buckley (Sherman Oaks) 17-6, Head-Royce (Oakland) 17-4, Lick-Wilmerding (San Francisco) 16-8, Modoc (Alturas) 16-4, Ripon Christian 18-4, Tri-City Christian (Vista) 21-2, View Park (Los Angeles) 17-11.
Notes & Highlights: Village Christian faced a challenging D4 team last Saturday night and needed a made jumper at the buzzer from Marsalis Johnson to beat Oaks Christian of Westlake Village 63-61. Johnson, who had 14 points and 11 rebounds on the night, got an assisting pass from Bryan Alberts (16 points) on the game-winning play. No. 3 St. Joseph Notre Dame suffered its 10th loss, but is was by 64-50 to D4 power Salesian of Richmond. In the only change this week, previous No. 6 Bentley lost for the second time in two weeks (the latest to Marin Academy) and was replaced by Rock Academy. Helping Rock Academy make the climb was a win over Tri-City Christian, which is 0-2 vs. the Warriors but is 21-0 in its other games.
Comments or corrections? Email markjtennis@gmail.com.
