If Mater Dei played as cohesively as Foothill did Friday night, then the Monarchs would have beaten Foothill by 30 points instead of 12 in their 1AA quarterfinal. Mater Dei got by on its athletic superiority, while the Monarchs’ half-court sets were mostly awful. Foothill was the better team, but Mater Dei had the better athletes (Katin Reinhardt scored 26 for MD).

Sunny Hills scored one of the night’s big upsets with its victory over third-seeded JW North of Riverside in a 2AA quarterfinal.

Mission Viejo advanced to the semifinals in 1A with a grueling overtime victory at West Ranch of Valencia. The trip up and back can be grueling, too. Mission on Tuesday plays host to Crescenta Valley, which eliminated El Toro on Friday.

In other 1A quarterfinals, Capistrano Valley defeated Vista Murrieta and Orange Lutheran defeated Corona (Gabe York scored 32). It’s Capo at OLu on Tuesday.

Looking for a county coach of the year candidate? Sunny Hills, coached by John Wooldridge, beat third-seeded JW North of Riverside and you can bet the Sunny Hills gym was a-rockin’.  The Lancers play at Royal of Simi Valley, which beat Tesoro,  in a semifinal Tuesday.

In the 3AA semifinals, Yorba Linda lost by four points to South Torrance.

In a 3A semifinal, Santa Margarita lost at top-seeded, state-ranked Alemany of Mission Hills. Unless Santa Margarita is selected for the Southern California Regionals, Friday’s loss will be the final game as Santa Margarita coach for Jerry DeBusk, who announced his retirement some weeks ago.

DeBusk coached Santa Margarita to five CIF-Southern Section and two CIF State championships in 20 years. Nobody coached their team and their sport better than Jerry DeBusk coached Santa Margarita basketball these past 20 years.

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