Postseason basketball starts next week, and there’s a handful of Long Beach boys’ hoops teams ready to make a run at a CIF championship.
All first-round games are scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m. though start times, dates and locations are subject to change.
CLICK HERE to view the brackets on the CIF-SS website
Division 1
The top two teams in the Moore League find themselves in the second-toughest division. This year, the CIF-SS chose 12 teams for the top-tier Open Division (rather than eight) due to increased parity in SoCal hoops.
The Moore League champions from Millikan (22-6) played four of those Open Division teams and were competitive in most of those matchups, and they’ll start the D1 playoffs with a home game against Marmonte League at-large Thousand Oaks (23-4).
“We played four Open Division teams, and all that was preparation for this,” said Millikan head coach Stephon Price of his challenging non-league slate this season. “From the workouts, the games we played, it was for this Moore League run and for the playoffs coming up.”
In the other half of the D1 bracket, Long Beach Poly (19-9) has a tough road test against Brentwood (25-3) in the opening round. The Eagles are co-champions of the Gold Coast League, and have a 75-68 win over Millikan on their resume from back on Dec. 30.
Division 2
In the next bracket, the St. Anthony Saints (15-10) got a home game after tying for second place in the Del Rey League. They’ll host the Leuzinger Olympians (17-13) in round one, the second-place team out of the Ocean League.
Division 3
Fresh off their victory in the Moore League’s fourth-place play-in game, the Wilson Bruins (15-10) will hit the road to Riverside to take on ML King (19-11) in the first round.
The Wolves have lost four of their last five games coming into the playoffs, and enter as an at-large selection from the Big VIII League.
Division 4
The Jordan Panthers (11-12) enter as the No. 3 seed from the Moore League, closing out their league schedule with some key buzzer-beating wins over Wilson and Cabrillo to extend their season into the playoffs.
The Panthers will make the relatively short trip to Fountain Valley to take on the Los Amigos Lobos (20-7), unbeaten champions of the Coast League. The Lobos enter the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak.
