Fans of great guard play won’t find a better ticket Saturday night than Long Beach Poly traveling to St. John Bosco in the second round of the CIF State Division 1 playoffs Saturday evening at 6 p.m.
The game is expected to sell out so fans who haven’t gotten a ticket yet are encouraged to arrive early. Pricing is $9 for general admission and $5 for children, high school students with ID, and seniors.
“It should be a really fun game, we’re excited about it,” said Poly coach Shelton Diggs after a morning practice on Thursday.
Poly (23-8) is the No. 9 seed in the Division 1 SoCal bracket and is coming off a 69-53 road win at No. 8 El Camino Real. Bosco (23-7) is the top seed and had a bye in the first round as a result.
“We would rather have played a game,” said Braves coach Matt Dunn at Poly’s ECR roadie on Wednesday. He also downplayed the seeding difference. “They’re a really good team.”
Both teams have talented guards, with Poly led by five of them, who’ve done more than 95% of their scoring these playoffs: Darryl Polk, Jesse Galloway, Justin Rene, Malik Salahuddin, and Giordan Williams. With senior Alpha Okoli sidelined for the Braves, their top scorer is Josh Adoh (#5) who is averaging over 15 points per game. A major matchup to watch is Bosco’s Jonathan Salazar (#12), a 6’6” big that Poly will have to figure out an answer for.
The winner will play Tuesday in the SoCal semifinals against the winner of Rancho Christian and Rancho Verde.
