Area Teams Looks To Go Far into the Postseason

The Damien Boys’ basketball team leads a group of post season hopefuls from the area as it received its second straight berth to the Open Division Playoffs, and will host Crespi Friday night at 7pm.

The reigning Division III state champs finished this season 24-3, with two losses to the number one team in the nation- according to Maxpreps- Chino Hills. A berth in the open division guarantees an automatic berth to the state tournament even if they are unable to capture the divisional title.

While being invited to the Open Division is nothing new to the Spartans, head coach Mike LeDuc was very confident that they were able to get a berth.

“We’re ranked sixth in Divsion 1AA, so that means there would be 10 teams not in Division 1AA that are better than us,” LeDuc said. “In my opinion, I believe we’re going to be in the Open Division.”

The Celts, the reigning Division 4AA and Division IV state champions finished with an identical 24-3 record, and once again looks to De’Anthony Melton who led the Celts with 29 points, nine rebounds and four assists a game.

Should the Spartans survive this encounter they will most likely face second seeded Bishop Montgomery who finished 25-1, its only loss coming at the hands of the aforementioned Chino Hills team.

Damien’s boys’ soccer team finished a decent 9-4-5 which gave the Spartans a wild-card matchup and will travel to La Sierra Wednesday at 3pm.

Joseph Qunitana’s 3-point at the buzzer gave Bonita an upset win over Ayala and the share of the Palomares League to finish this season 21-5. This performance landed them with a first round home game against Sultana, the at-large representative from the Mojave Desert League. Sultana finished 9-15. The game will tip off Wednesday at 7pm.

The Bonita girls’ basketball team also finished 18-10 with a playoff berth in Division 3AA and will visit Savanna Thursday night. Tipoff is at 7pm,

The Rebels is the number two team from the Orange League with a 17-8 record and is currently on a five-game winning streak heading into the post season.

The Claremont Boys soccer teamed finished 16-4-2 and a share of the Palomares League championship with Diamond Bar and will host the winner of Cresenta Valley –Arroyo Grande matchup Thursday at 3pm.

Photo:  With Jeremy Hemsley Graduated, Bryce Peters looks to lead Damien to its second straight State title.