3 SCV teams eye state championship
Prep basketball: Valencia and Saugus fare well with draws as lower seeds; SCCS boys gets No. 1 seed in Division 5
To the victor goes the spoils, and in the case of the CIF State basketball tournament, that means a miniscule layoff and a likely home opener for teams that played in CIF sectional championships this weekend.
Three Santa Clarita basketball teams were placed in CIF State tournament brackets Sunday.
Of the trio, the Santa Clarita Christian School boys basketball team was the only to play in CIFSouthern Section title game, winning the Division 5AAA title Saturday with a 66-27 win over La Puente.
As for the Valencia boys team and Saugus girls team, they’ll have gone nearly two weeks ahead of their Wednesday road matchups.
The Vikings will travel to Cajon as the No. 14 seed in the first round of the Division 2 tournament. The Cents will also be on the road, playing at Sunny Hills as the No. 11 seed in Division 3.
SCCS will host Corcoran at The Master’s University on Wednesday, serving as the No. 1 seed in Division 5.
While Valencia and Saugus would surely rather find themselves in the shoes of the Cardinals, they could have fared much worse on their draws.
For starters, both teams drew a Southern Section opponent, keeping travel at a minimum.
“We were ecstatic with the draw,” said Saugus coach Jason Conn. “It’s a lot better than having to drive to Cabrillo or all the way down to San Diego.”
The Cents, after making their longest Southern Section run in over 20 years (Division 3A semifinals), will have a shot at some more history. A win would give the program its first-ever state tournament win. Sunny Hills lost in the CIF-SS Division 3AA semifinals.
“The (CIF-SS) run gave us the confidence that we’re legit contenders to win in the state tournament,” Conn said. “At this point, I can’t tell them much that they don’t already know. It’s been about staying excited and keeping legs fresh.”
Valencia will have gone 11 days without playing when it travels to Cajon. The layoff is
certainly a unique one amidst a season. Vikings coach Bill Bedgood has experience with the state-tournament delay.
“You really don’t find yourself in that kind of a spot during the season,” Bedgood said. “I’ve tried different things over the years. I gave the guys three days off last week to try and refocus and clear their heads.”
The time between games could especially pay dividends for Valencia, giving senior
guard Dexter Akanno extra time to nurse an ankle injury that’s plagued him throughout the postseason.
Akanno played in the Vikings’ Division 2A semifinals loss against Riverside Poly on Feb. 23 and had 12 points, though he was still sporting a walking boot before and after the game.
“It’s never going to be 100 percent this season,” Bedgood said of the injury. “But it definitely worked in our
favor to get those extra days off. These are the kind of things you have to deal with when you play a long season.”
SCCS won its first boys basketball CIFSS title Saturday with the win over La Puente. It’s won its four playoff games thus far by an average of 38.3 points.
Valencia (14-16) and Saugus (22-8) are schedule to tip off at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with SCCS (21-9) to tip off at 6:30 p.m. at TMU.