California State Regionals: Open Looks
The State Southern Regional Open first-round game at El Camino College Wednesday night could be a classic example of “experience” vs. “relative youth” – with both entities quite talented. No. 3 seed Bishop Montgomery, with five seniors among its…
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Continue ReadingThe State Southern Regional Open first-round game at El Camino College Wednesday night could be a classic example of “experience” vs. “relative youth” – with both entities quite talented.
No. 3 seed Bishop Montgomery, with five seniors among its seven-player “rotation”, plays host to No. 6 Mater Dei and its plethora of underclass talent.
The other three Open contests Wednesday night have No. 1 and Southern Section Open champion playing host to San Diego Open champion Torrey Pines, the No. 8 seed.
L.A. City runner-up Westchester – a surprising No. 4 seed – is at home to No. 5 Rancho Christian, which began the Southern Section Open playoffs as the top seed and is the only California team to beat Sierra Canyon in more than a year.
And No. 2 and L.A. City Open champion Fairfax takings on visiting Centennial – the only team to knock off the Lions this season (in the Dec. 28 Classic at Damien Platinum semifinals).
Countering Bishop Montgomery’s “experience” (with the aforementioned five seniors all key members of the team that won Southern Section, State Southern Regional and State championships two years ago), Mater Dei doesn’t have a senior that plays significant minutes.
Knights’ Coach Doug Mitchell uses a three-guard rotation of seniors Gianni Hunt (PICTURED/bound for Oregon State), Josh Vazquez (who signed with the University of Montana in November) and exceptional deep jump shooter Jordan Archie.
His Mater Dei counterpart, Gary McKnight, counters with Devin Askew (the No. 1 sophomore point guard in Southern California) as well as juniors Ryan Evans (one of the elite jump shooters in the West Coast Class of 2020) and Aidan Prukop.
In the frontcourt, Mitchell has two 6-foot-6 seniors in Nick Schrader (tremendous in the post) and Will Crawford (exceptional from the corners on 3s), with two of the better junior posts in SoCal in Isaiah Johnson and Bradley Ezewiro, which should make for some compelling battles with Mater Dei sophomores Wilhelm Breidenbach, Nick Davidson and Harrison Hornery.