Every basketball season there are surprises in the CIF-SS playoffs.
This year, Orange County’s boys teams have provided plenty of them.
In the CIF Southern Section quarterfinals Tuesday there are a number of county teams that few could have predicted would get this far.
Among them …
Canyon in Division 2
Tuesday’s matchup: Bishop Amat at Canyon, 7 p.m.
Canyon (18-12) got into the playoffs as an at-large team before beating Silverado, 63-55, in the first round and Oxnard, 70-67, in overtime in the second round. Canyon is from the Crestview League, where every game seems to like a playoff game. Having seniors in the playoffs always helps. Canyon has a couple of good seniors, including leading scorer Rami Awad, who averages 13 points a game. Coach Nate Harrison always coaxes excellence from any roster.
Trabuco Hills in Division 4
Tuesday’s matchup: Blair at Trabuco Hills, 7 p.m.
The Mustangs (18-12) were not in the regular season’s final Orange County Top 25. They did win five of their final six regular-season games before playoff wins of 70-54 over Chino and 60-54 over Saugus. Senior guard Ryan Hull averages a team-high 14 points a game.
San Juan Hills in Division 5
Tuesday’s matchup: Verbum Dei at San Juan Hills, 7 p.m.
Maybe we should have seen this one coming. The Stallions (16-13) lost a close one to South Coast League co-champion San Clemente, 59-56, on the final day of the regular season. They then beat Apple Valley, 84-65, in the first round and Irvine, 75-63, in the second round. Senior forward Rocco Jensen averages 21 points a game for San Juan Hills.
Valencia in Division 6
Tuesday’s matchup: St. Bonaventure at Valencia, 7 p.m.
The Tigers (16-14) went 4-4 in the Empire League and lost five of their final eight games. In the playoffs Valencia, led by Izan Hsu’s 15 points a game, beat Vistamar, 62-51, in the first round and top-seeded Hemet, 65-63, in the second round. Both were Valencia home games, as is the quarterfinal against St. Bonaventure.
Samueli Academy in Division 9
Tuesday’s matchup: Samueli Academy at Providence of Santa Barbara, 7 p.m.
The Firewolves went into the playoffs with a 10-17 record. They beat Lakeview Academy, 58-39, in the first round and Grove, 84-49, in the second round. Senior guard Zack Castruita averages 13 points a game for Samueli.
NOTES
The 12-team Open Division completes pool play Tuesday. The top two teams in each of the four pools will play in the quarterfinals that start Friday. Quarterfinal winners meet in the semifinals Feb. 24. The higher-seeded team is the home team in all Open Division games. …
While eight of the 12 Open Division teams play in the quarterfinals on Friday, the other four teams will compete in two play-in games Friday for berths in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs. The winners of those two play-in games will receive regional berths; the other two will have played their final games of the season. …
Orange County’s representative in the Open Division, Santa Margarita (27-3), is at home Tuesday against Harvard-Westlake (23-5). Both teams won their first Pool B games. Santa Margarita beat Damian, 81-71, and Harvard-Westlake also beat Damien, 67-62. …
Harvard-Westlake and Santa Margarita each have several college-bound players on their rosters. Harvard-Westlake has 6-4 senior guard Joe Sterling, who signed with the University of Texas and is averaging 22 points a game. The Wolverines also feature 6-3 senior guard Amir Jones, who signed with Georgia State and averages 12 points a game. Santa Margarita has 6-8 senior forward Drew Anderson (Oregon State signee), who is averaging 20 points and nine rebounds a game, 6-3 senior guard Kaiden Bailey (Georgia Tech signee), who averages 19 points, and senior Brayden Kyman (Washington State signee), who averages 17 points and six rebounds. …
Corona del Mar’s 27 wins this season set a school record for the boys basketball team for wins in a season. …
CIF Southern Section championship games will be played Feb. 27 and 28 at Toyota Arena in Ontario and Azusa Pacific University. The Open Division final is at Toyota Arena on Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. Where and when the other divisional finals will be played will be announced on Monday, Feb. 23. …
A team that wins its quarterfinal game is guaranteed a berth in the CIF Southern California Regional that begins March 3. CIF State championship games are March 13 and 14 at Golden One Arena in Sacramento.