The San Diego Section 2022-23 basketball championships have been very kind to South County teams with a stunning seven squads qualifying for the semifinals and six making it through to the championship round.
Of note, the Metro Conference landed three boys teams in the elite Open Division playoff bracket, with the third-seeded Montgomery Aztecs (Metro-Mesa League champions) advancing to the championship game against top-seeded St. Augustine following a defensive 56-48 semifinal win over second-seeded Carlsbad.
The seven South County semifinalists are not necessarily unexpected.
“We’ve had good coaching for a while down here and now the talent is there,” Montgomery boys coach Ed Martin said. “There’s a lot of good players.”
That seems to be an understatement given this year’s runaway success.
And it’s not over, either.
All eight Open Division teams, regardless of place-finish, advance to the state regional playoffs, meaning that all three Metro Conference qualifiers will extend their seasons beyond the section level.
As a semifinalist, the fourth-seeded San Ysidro Cougars (Metro-Mesa League runners-up) advance to the state regional playoffs despite their 83-67 loss to the Saintsmen.
The Mater Dei Catholic Crusaders received the No. 8 seed in the Open Division, but their stay was short-lived following a 88-62 loss to St. Augustine in the quarterfinals.
Montgomery defeated sixth-seeded Santa Fe Christian, 69-60 in the quarterfinals while San Ysidro defeated fifth-seeded La Costa Canyon, 79-73, in the Open Division quarterfinals
Making the grade
Otay Ranch (Division II) and Metro-South Bay League champion Victory Christian Academy (Division III) also made it through the semifinals to the finals after receiving the No, 1 seed in their respective divisions.
The Mustangs will face the Lincoln Hornets in the Division II championship game after topping fourth-seeded Scripps Ranch, 65-61, while the Knights will match up with third-seeded Ramona after defeating fourth-seeded Rancho Buena Vista, 82-46, in the semifinals.
On the girls side, Mater Dei Catholic received the No. 1 seed in Division I and advanced to the championship round against seventh-seeded Imperial following a 63-31 semifinal win over fifth-seeded Cathedral Catholic while fourth-seeded Montgomery advanced to meet second-seeded Granite Hills in the Division III final after turning back top-seeded San Diego, 65-46, in a semifinal upset.
The bracket-buster of this year’s tournament turned out to be 10th-seeded Mar Vista, which upset No. 7 seed Escondido Adventist Academy, 55-34, in the opening round, No. 2 seed High Tech high San Diego, 50-24, in the quarterfinals and No. 6 Mission Bay, 50-33, in the semifinals to reach the championship game against top-seeded Valhalla.
Division finals are set Thursday (Feb. 23) through Saturday (Feb. 25) at various sites around the county, with inclement weather expected through the championship weekend.
The boys Open Division final is scheduled Saturday at 6 p.m. at Cathedral Catholic High School while the boys Division I final is scheduled Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Mira Mesa High School.
The girls Division I final is scheduled Friday at 7:30 p.m. at St. Augustine High School while the boys Division III final is scheduled Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Mira Mesa High School.
The girls Division III final is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. at Mira Mesa High School while the girls Division V final is scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. at Otay Ranch High School.
Of the 12 teams in this year’s finals, only eight top-seeded teams made it there (four boys teams and four girls teams).
“We had upsets across the board – No. 9 Oceanside in the girls Division II, No. 8 San Pasqual in the boys Division IV and the No. 6 and No. 8 seeds (Santana and Classical Academy) meeting in the boys Division V game,” said Sweetwater Union High School District athletics coordinator Alex Estrada, who serves as the CIF co-tournament director for basketball.
San Diego Section Commissioner Joe Heinz concurred with that statement.
“A lot of lower-seeded teams worked their way to the championships – it will be interesting to see what happens over the next couple days,” he said.
