Metro Conference basketball teams are at it again! Seven area squads will play for San Diego Section division title this weekend, including three top-seeded teams.
The schedule is highlighted by the top-seeded Montgomery Aztecs who will test No. 2 Carlsbad in a rematch of last year’s Open Division boys championship game. The teams will pair up Friday at 8 p.m. at Frontwave Arena in Oceanside.
This is Montgomery’s third consecutive trip to the Open Division final. The Aztecs (28-2) hope to nail down this year’s title after two successive runner-up finishes.
Montgomery defeated fourth-seeded Mission Bay, 64,53, in Tuesday’s semifinal while Carlsbad (25-5) eliminated sixth-seeded Cathedral Catholic 73-61. The Aztecs are riding a 10-game winning streak while the Lancers have won eight consecutive games.
Another highlight will be Saturday’s Division I doubleheader at Mater Dei Catholic High School pitting fourth-seeded Victory Christian Academy’s boys team against second-seeded St, Augustine at 4 p.m. and the second-seeded VCA girls team against top-seeded Rancho Buena Vista in the nightcap at 7 p.m.
VCA’s boys team (18-13) upset top-seeded La Jolla Country Day Torreys, 59-54, in Wednesday’s semifinals to advance while the Lady Knights (17-13) defeated sixth-seeded Mater Dei Catholic, 61-46, in Chula Vista on Wednesday.
VCA captured this year’s Metro-Mesa League girls title with an 8-0 record and have won 10 games in a row heading into Saturday’s division final. The Knights finished in third place in the Metro-Mesa League boys standings and carry a four-game winning streak into the division final.
The Lady Knights had four players score in double digits in Wednesday’s game: freshman Valentina Lopez and sophomore Shawnelle Sanders each dropped in 14points while junior Mai-ana Norita dished up 13 points and senior Sophia Abella collected 11 points. Norita was a rebounding machine with 12 boards.
Junior Jayden Gray keyed VCA with 23 points, followed by juniors Isaiah Owens (nine points), Chato Garcia (seven points) and Ben Cordova (seven points). The Knights led the Torreys (17-13) by a score of 15-9 after the first quarter and were up 27-24 at halftime.
RBV enters Saturday’s final 23-8 as the North County Coastal League champion while
St. Augustine, the City-Western League champion, is 17-13. The Saints eliminated sixth-seeded Sage Creek, 62-39, in Wednesday’s semifinals.
In sum, five boys teams and two girls teams will be out to win division titles for the Metro Conference. Joining Montgomery and Victory Christian on the boys side are the Olympian Eagles (top-seeded Division II), Southwest Raiders (top-seeded Division IV) and Chula Vista Spartans (third-seeded Division V). Otay Ranch (third-seeded Division II) joins Victory Christian Academy as a girls championship game qualifier.
Raiders: Nothing but net
Photos by Jon Bigornia
No. 1 seed Southwest advanced to the division championship game for the second consecutive year, though Wednesday’s Division III semifinal against No. 4 Rancho Bernardo turned into a classic nail-biter with the host Raiders’ lead cut to 58-56 with 4.8 seconds to play. Those final five seconds played out like an eternity before Southwest finally clamped down with a 59-56 win. Scoring leaders included seniors Khalid Dieranaieh (23 points) and Shaun Verdida (13 points) and junior Noah Sotelo (10 points).
Top-seeded Olympian (25-6) will be looking to claim its second consecutive CIF title after tipping fifth-seeded Madison, 64-58, in Wednesday’s Division II semifinals behind 24 points from sophomore Tristan Anderson. Southwest (25-6) held off a furious comeback by second-seeded Rancho Bernardo (20-11) to finish on top 59-56 on Wednesday while Chula Vista (23-6) dispatched seventh-seeded Escondido, 68-46, on Tuesday.
Chula Vista received double-digit scoring from four players: senior Elijah Gillespie (20 points), sophomore Gabriel Ruiz (18 points), senior Giovanni Contreras (12 points) and senior Daniel Orta (11 points). The Spartans exploded on the court with a 20-8 first quarter lead and led 32-18 at halftime.
Metro-South Bay League champion Otay Ranch and fifth-seeded Montgomery were both bidding for berths to the Division II title game in a pair of road contests. The Lady Mustangs (25-5) were successful in knocking off second-seeded Imperial, 49-45, while top-seeded Bishop’s (19-11) ended the Lady Aztecs’ bid to return to the state championship game with a 63-55 semifinal victory.
Seniors Mackenzie Daffron and Maleah Porch poured in 18 points and 12 points, respectively, to lead Otay Ranch to the upset win over the Lady Tigers (25-5).
Championship game match-ups include:
Open Division boys: (1) Montgomery (28-2) vs. (2) Carlsbad (25-5), Friday, Feb. 28, at 8 p.m. at Frontwave Arena (Oceanside)
Division I boys: (2) St. Augustine (17-13) vs. (4) Victory Christian Academy (18-13), Saturday, March 1, at 4 p.m. at Mater Dei Catholic High School
Division II boys: (1) Olympian (25-6) vs. (2) Mira Mesa (26-5), Saturday, March 1, at 4 p.m. at Canyon Crest Academy.
Division III boys: (1) Southwest (25-6) vs. (3) Maranatha Christian (16-15), Saturday, March 1, at 4 p.m. at Otay Ranch High School.
Division IV boys: (1) Pacific Ridge (27-2) vs. (3) Chula Vista (23-6), Thursday, Feb. 27, at 5 p.m. at Mater Dei Catholic High School.
Division I girls: (1) Rancho Buena Vista (23-8) vs. (2) Victory Christian Academy (17-13), Saturday, March 1, at 7 p.m. at Mater Dei Catholic High School
Division II girls: (1) Bishop’s (19-11) vs. (3) Otay Ranch (25-5), (Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m. at Canyon Crest Academy.
Three in a row: Aztec hoop men to play for Open Division title again
Tradition lives in Aztec Territory. Montgomery High School’s boys basketball team is headed back to the Open Division boys championship game thanks to Tuesday’s 64-53 victory over fourth-seeded Mission Bay in front of a packed gym.
The top-seeded Aztecs (28-2) will face second-seeded Carlsbad (25-5) Friday at 8 p.m. to help inaugurate Frontwave Arena in Oceanside for prep sports.
Montgomery has come up short to St. Augustine and Carlsbad in the past two seasons while playing for the section’s top prize.
Carlsbad topped sixth-seeded Cathedral Catholic, 73-61, in Tuesday’s other semifinal to reach the Open Division final for the second consecutive year. The Lancers topped the Aztecs, 56-47, last season.
“This is the third year in a row that we’ve made the Open Division final, and we want to win it this year,” Aztec head coach Ed Martin said.
Montgomery faced early adversity in Tuesday’s matchup after the Buc (21-9) broke an extended scoreless standoff with a 5-0 run. The hosts rebounded to lead 8-5 with a comeback run of their own and never trailed thereafter.
A three-point shot by junior J.J. Sanchez doubled the score to 18-9. The Aztecs led by 11 points before Mission Bay narrowed the score to 27-21 at halftime on a trey of its own.
Both teams shot the long ball throughout the game. Montgomery promptly took a 30-21 lead on a trey to start the second half.
Sanchez completed a three-point play with a foul shot as the hosts took a 10-point lead, 33-23. Another trey upped the Aztec lead to 36-23.
But the Bucs continued to hang around, drawing closer at 36-28 on an uncontested drive. Mission Bay used a pair of treys to trim the Montgomery lead to eight points at 45-37 and 48-40 as the third quarter transitioned into the fourth quarter.
Montgomery extended its lead to 13 points on three occasions before the Bucs started dropping in three-point shots to position themselves for a game-ending rush.
The Aztec lead was down to seven points, 57-50, with 3:17 to play in regulation. But a short jumper by sophomore Xavier Guerrero made it a nine-point game and a hook shot by junior Xair Mendez stretched the hosts’ advantage to 11 points outside of a minute to play.
A slam dunk narrowed the score to 61-52 inside of a minute remaining. But Mendez subsequently sank a pair of free throws to allow the Aztecs to regain their 11-point lead and the crowd could now sense a return trip to the Open Division championship game was imminent.
Martin said team chemistry has been the key to success for his team this season.
“We’re not the fastest team but we make other teams play at our pace,” the Aztec coach said.
Mendez paced the victors with a team-high 25 points while dropping in three treys and grabbing seven rebounds. Sanchez poured in 20 points, hitting four three-points shots whenever the score dictated. He added four rebounds, eight assists, two steals and one block.
Junior Devin Hamilton tacked on 10 points while Guerrero logged eight points with four rebounds and two steals. Senior six-foot-six Jayden Cannon, a teenage Bill Walton lookalike, dropped in two points while junior Alek Sanchez had one point with three steals and three rebounds.
J.J. Sanchez turned in the impact performance.
“That’s the type of performance we expect from him, that we need from him,” Martin said.
“We knew they would bring in some aggressiveness and physicality,” said Sanchez, the Metro-Mesa League’s player of the year and two-time All-CIF selection. “We started out slow but started hitting our shots. It was a team effort both defensively and offensively. Everyone was pitching in.”
Sanchez will be playing in his third consecutive Open Division final.
“It shows our hard work pays off,” he said.
Lady Knights top Metro rival Mater Dei Catholic, advance to Division I title game
Wednesday’s all-Metro Conference match-up between second-seeded Victory Christian Academy and sixth-seeded Mater Dei Catholic assured there would be a South County representative in Saturday’s Division I championship game.
The question was whether that team would be Victory Christian or Mater Dei Catholic?
The Lady Crusaders took an early 3-0 lead but the host Lady Knights promptly tied the team on a long distance three-point shot. MDC went back on top 5-3. VCA tied that, then went ahead 6-5. The Lady Crusaders rebounded to take an 8-6 lead before the teams ended the first quarter in an 8-8 standoff.
VCA freshman Valentina Lopez put her team ahead 15-10 on the scoreboard with a steal and score but junior Promise Martin for Mater Dei Catholic countered with her own dramatics to nudge the visitors ahead 16-15.
VCA’s Lopez got back in the scoring column to push her team in front 17-16. The first half ended with the Lady Knights holding a 28-22 advantage.
The hosts scored the opening basket of the second half and quickly built a 16-point lead three minutes into the third quarter. The Lady Crusaders chipped away at the sizable lead, whittling Victory Christian’s lead to four points with the first basket in the fourth quarter.
The teams traded treys for a five-point difference on the scoreboard, 49-44, midway through the quarter. But VCS went on a 12-point run to blow the game open with a 17-point lead, 61-44, with just over a minute remaining in regulation.
It had to be a satisfying moment from everyone in the Lady Crusaders’ camp as they watched the program advance from Division V champions in 2021 to Division IV champions in 2022, from Division II runners-up last season to Division I status this season.
Head coach Robert Luna, in his third year at the Lady Knights’ helm, attributes his team’s success to hard work.
“We’ve been improving each year, moving up divisions,” Luna said. “I’m very happy about, especially with this group.”
Luna said his team was able to deal with the physicality and rebounding required in the semifinal win. “We focused on boxing them out, limiting their shots,” the Lady Knights coach said.
The hosts decidedly won the long ball matchup with eight treys to three for the visitors. That’s a difference of 15 points — the margin of the final outcome.
Sophomore Shawnelle Sanders and Lopes paced the victors with 14 points apiece while junior Mai’ana Norita followed with 13 points and senior Sophia Abella added 11 points.
Sophomore Jarika Chan keyed the Lady Crusaders with 13 points while sophomore Jordyn Worley tacked on 11 points.
Victory Christian advanced to meet top-seeded Rancho Buena Vista in Saturday’s division final. The Lady Longhorns improved to 23-8 with their 64-52 semifinal win over fifth-seeded Carlsbad (19-12).
Getting their kicks
No. 7 seed Bonita Vista will play top-seeded San Marcos for the Division I girls soccer championship Saturday at 4 p.m. at Mission Bay High School.
The Lady Barons (12-5-2) started their playoff odyssey with a two-game sweep of second-seeded Our Lady of Peace (13-4-4) in the reformatted quarterfinals by scores of 4-0 (at home) and 1-1 (away). Bonita Vista then upended sixth-seeded Torrey Pines, 2-1, on Wedcnesday in the semifinals to advance further in the bracket.
San Marcos is 17-4-3 on the season after eliminating No. 8 Cathedral Catholic and No. 4 Westview.
Senior Alena Ramirez tallied three goals in the opening win over the Lady Pilots on Feb. 18 while junior Sofia Nunez added a goal and assist. Nunez scored the lone BV goal in the series-clincher on Feb. 20.
Nunez and sophomore Ava Galvan each scored one goal in the semifinal win at Torrey Pines (14-5). Ramirez tops the Lady Barons in season scoring with 26 points (11 goals, four assists) in 19 games while Nunez ranks second with 24 points (nine goals, six assists).
Bonita Vista finished 5-2-1 in Metro-Mesa League play for a runner-up finish in the league standings to regular season champion Eastlake (6-0-2). The Lady Titans received the No. 5 seed in the Open Division bracket but were eliminated by Westview in the quarterfinals by a 5-1 goal aggregate.
