Prep Rally: Biggest (and final) week of the high school basketball season is here

Hi, and welcome to another edition of Prep Rally. My name is Eric Sondheimer. It’s the final week of the high school basketball season. Regional finals are Tuesday, followed by the state championships Friday and Saturday in Sacramento.

The matchups

Alijah Arenas delivers a dunk for Chatsworth.

(Craig Weston)

The regional championships for boys and girls basketball are set for Tuesday. Final home sites will be decided Monday because the state wants enough room for crowds.

Here’s the rundown on matchups, which include lots of rematches.

Here’s a look at sophomore Alijah Arenas of Chatsworth who scored 53 points Saturday night to send Chatsworth into the Division IV regional final. He stayed at Chatsworth for two years building up a team from the ground up.

Here’s a look from Saturday’s semifinals.

Baseball

Corona and Orange Lutheran, ranked No. 1 and No. 2, are scheduled to finally play in the championship game of the PBR tournament Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Great Park in Irvine (weather permitting).

Noah Stead of Westlake had a remarkable day, hitting three home runs and finishing with eight RBIs in a 20-0 win over Sylmar. Westlake is 8-0.

Jackson Klein of Santa Monica threw his second consecutive no-hitter, striking out 13, in a 5-0 win over Grace Brethren.

All-City quarterback Robert Guerrero of Banning has started the baseball season with 13 scoreless innings.

Harvard-Westlake pitcher Duncan Marsten came through with 10 strikeouts and gave up no hits in six innings against Sierra Canyon. Here’s the report.

Softball

Garden Grove Pacifica has left little doubt it’s the No. 1 softball team in Southern California, if not the state, after traveling to Arizona and winning the Dave Kops tournament, beating Norco 6-1 in the championship game.

The team is 9-0 and receiving strong hitting from UCLA commit Kaniya Bragg. Brynne Nally continues to come through pitching.

Norco showed off strong pitching from freshman Coral Williams.

Golf

Loyola won the Servite tournament championship, with Servite finishing second and Tesoro in third. The Cubs shot 386.

The top individual player was Ethan Block of Tesoro. He finished with a 71.

Christian Rodriguez and William Gim of Servite shot 73s.

One of the top eighth-grade golfers, Jaden Soong, announced he has been accepted to St. Francis and Loyola and must now make a school decision for next season.

Track

Zachary Gibson of Santa Margarita set a school record by running the 1,600 in 4:10.89 at the Huntington Beach Sunset Classic.

Football standout Nate Frazier of Mater Dei ran the 100 meters in a wind-aided 10.69 seconds.

Andrew Robinson of Great Oak went 47-5 1/4 in the triple jump.

Aja Johnson of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame swept the girls’ shotput and discus at the John Godina Invitational.

Soccer

What a soccer season it was for Louisville’s Miye Kodama, whose 41st goal helped her team win the Southern California Division 4 regional championship.

Servite picked up a Division II regional championship.

Here’s the complete list of regional champions.

Notes . . .

Lynwood basketball coach Jason Crowe Sr. appears set to take over at his alma mater, Inglewood. The only holdup is making sure his son, Jason Jr.., would be eligible with the move. . . . .

Travis Clark has resigned after 10 years as football coach at Lawndale. . . .

Josh Proctor, a junior shortstop at La Cañada committed to UCLA, has transferred to Maranatha after starring for the La Cañada basketball team. . . .

Rich Boyce has resigned as boys basketball coach at Edison after 24 seasons. He will continue as athletic director. . . .

Mater Dei girls’ basketball coach Kevin Kiernan with Sierra Canyon coach Alicia Komaki, who used to play for Kiernan at Troy and coached with him at Mater Dei.

(Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

The winningest girls’ basketball coach in California, history, Kevin Kiernan of Mater Dei, has announced his retirement. He will continue as athletic director. Here’s the report. . . .

There are more transfers in the high school football transfer portal. Here’s your latest look. . . .

It’s another coaching milestone for Granada Hills volleyball coach Tom Harp, who won his 500th match. . . .

Mike Mackintosh is the new football coach at Alhambra. . . .

Windward defeated Palisades to win the Gold Bracket championship of the Venice boys volleyball tournament. Maxwell Stotsky of Windward earned MVP honors. . . .

From the archives: Jarod Lucas

Oregon’s Jacob Young (42) drives against Oregon State’s Jarod Lucas (2) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in 2022.

(John Locher / Associated Press)

Former Los Altos guard Jarod Lucas has finally reached his last season of college eligibility as a grad student at Nevada after previously starring for Oregon State. He graduated at Los Altos in 2019 while playing for his father, Jeff, and set a Southern California record with 3,356 career points and a career scoring average of 29.4.

He has been a valuable player for Nevada as the leading scorer at 17.2 points.

Here’s a 2016 story on Lucas becoming the top player at Los Altos.

Recommendations

From the San Diego Union Tribune, a story on a multi-sport star headed to Air Force.

From the Washington Post, a story on a basketball star who’s the daughter of former NFL quarterback Doug Williams.

From MLB.com, a story on former JSerra star Royce Lewis.

From the South Pasadena Review, a story on Phillip Ocon of St. Francis headed to Colorado State to play football.

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