Six teams from Long Beach learned their postseason draws on Saturday afternoon as the CIF-Southern Section released their playoff brackets for boys’ basketball.
five teams from the Moore League (Long Beach Poly, Millikan, Lakewood, Cabrillo, and Jordan) along with defending CIF champion St. Anthony are all in the playoffs, with the first round of games scheduled for Wednesday night. All games will tip at 7 p.m. unless changed next week.
To see full brackets for boys’ basketball on the CIF website, CLICK HERE.
Division 1
Long Beach Poly (22-6) won the Moore League with an undefeated record this year, and ended up in the Division 1 bracket. Head coach Shelton Diggs said he was hoping for an Open Division bid despite the cards seeming to shift against that by the CIF-SS’ computer rankings.
“We’re right where I thought we would be,” he said. “With the new playoff format, you earn your playoff placement, and we earned a spot in Division 1. We’ll always try for Open, but D1 is the next best division and we earned a spot there with our play throughout the season. We’re excited for the challenge.”
Poly will host St. Bernard (18-10), the four-seed from the Del Rey League. With a win Poly would play the winner of Los Alamitos and Vista Murrieta.
St. Anthony (18-5) is in the bottom half of the Division 1 bracket and would not see Poly until the championship game. The Saints’ strong finish this year with a nine-game win streak earned them not only a Del Rey League championship, but also a Division 1 berth. That’s a testament to coaching and growth as the Saints lingered around .500 at the midpoint of the season.
St. Anthony will also get a home game as they host Santa Barbara (23-5), the Channel League champs.
“We’re grateful for the home game, it should be very competitive,” said Saints coach Alan Mitchell.
If the Saints advance they’d see the winner of Anaheim Canyon and Damien.
Division 2AA
Millikan (15-12) was the second-place team in the Moore League and opens on the road at Calabasas. If the Rams advance they’d see the winner of San Juan Hills and Corona Santiago.
Lakewood (16-11) finished third in the Moore League and could share a bus with Millikan as they also have a long road trip on Wednesday, heading to Camarillo. If Lakewood can knock off top-seeded Camarillo they’d get a much-hyped game against the winner of Mayfair and Glendora.
Division 2A
Cabrillo (17-11) finished fourth in the Moore League to nab a guaranteed playoff berth. The Jags were not only rewarded with a spot in the playoffs, but with a home game, as they’ll host Royal (14-14), the three-seed from the Coastal Canyon League. The Moore League was shown a lot of respect by its fourth-place team being in 2A–as opposed to football where the fourth place team has traditionally been somewhere between Division 9 and Division 12.
If Cabrillo advances, they’d see the winner of Valencia and Walnut.
Division 3AA
Jordan (14-14) performed well enough to earn an at-large bid into the playoffs, but they’ll have to burn some gas to get there. The Panthers hit the road Wednesday to see Palm Desert, the two-seed out of the Desert Empire League. If Jordan wins they’d host the winner of Linfield Christian and Sunny Hills.
