Long Beach Poly, Mater Dei Boys Seeded No. 1 in Division I

The Southern Section boys’ and girls’ basketball playoff brackets were announced Sunday with expanded formats, as expected, for Divisions I-AA and I-A and Division V-AA.

The change is due to a midseason decision by the section that allowed teams with at least 10 wins to petition for inclusion in the playoffs.

The section reduced the number of divisions from 10 to nine this year by combining Division III-AA and III-A into one division.

First-round games or wild-card games in the boys’ divisions are Wednesday. First-round and wild-card games in the girls’ divisions are Thursday.

Championship games will be played March 3 and 4. Boys’ championship games will be played at the Arrowhead Pond and Loyola Marymount. Girls’ championship games will be played at the Pyramid.

The top two teams in each division advance to the state regional playoffs March 7-11. Winners of the regionals advance to the state championships March 17 and 18 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.

The top-seeded boys’ teams in each division: I-AA--Long Beach Poly; I-A--Santa Ana Mater Dei; II-AA--Compton Dominguez; II-A--Lakewood Artesia; III-AA--Torrance Bishop Montgomery; IV-AA--Pasadena Marshall; IV-A--Orange Lutheran; V-AA--Pacific Hills; V-A--Price.

Top-seeded girls teams: I-AA--Chino Hills Ayala; I-A--Riverside J.W. North; II-AA--Brea Olinda; II-A--Pasadena Muir; III-AA--Mission Hills Alemany; IV-AA--Morro Bay; IV-A--Playa del Rey St. Bernard; V-AA--Downey Calvary Chapel; V-A--Pilgrim.

Mater Dei, Dominguez, Artesia and Price won boys’ championships last year.

Brea Olinda, Morro Bay and Pilgrim are defending girls’ champions.

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PAIRINGS, PAGE 11