Boys' Basketball: Roundup of Friday Playoff Games

Aleks Lipovic dominated the first quarter and Capistrano Valley continued to benefit from the return of point guard Nick Thomas.

Lipovic scored 23 points, 15 in the first eight minutes, as the second-seeded Cougars scored 67-55 victory at Vista Murrieta (16-12) in a Southern Section Division 1A quarterfinal on Friday.

Thomas scored 14, including seven in the third quarter when Capo stretched a 29-25 halftime lead to 52-38 heading into the fourth. He had missed several games in the last round of South Coast League action because of a knee injury, but returned for the playoffs.

Capo Valley is 25-4 and will play at third-seeded Orange Lutheran, a 79-70 winner over Corona.

No. 1 Mission Viejo 81, No. 9 Valencia West Ranch 77 (OT): The Diablos are only one victory away from returning to the section finals for the second year in a row. They will play host to Crescenta Valley on Tuesday.

No. 4 Crescenta Valley 61, No. 5 El Toro 49:The Chargers (21-9) were turned back by a team that reached its first semifinal since 1994. Crescenta Valley is 26-4.

Division 2AA quarterfinals

No. 7 Simi Valley Royal 54, No. 16 Tesoro 49: Trailing by two points in the third quarter, the Titans (16-14) gave up a 12-4 run to end the quarter, and it was too much to overcome in the fourth. Tesoro pulled to within 50-45 with three minutes remaining, but consecutive charging fouls turned back its comeback hopes. Nick Pallas scored 17 and Tanner Lancona 15 for Tesoro, an at-large team from the South Coast League after finishing fourth. Royal (23-4), which had never won as many as 20 games in a season, qualified for the semifinals for the first time in school history and will play host to Sunny Hills.

Other: Thousand Oaks 54, Riverside Poly 38; Inglewood 60, San Bernardino Cajon 55; Sunny Hills 77, No. 3 Riverside North 75 (OT)

Division 3A semifinals

No. 1 Mission Hills Alemany 78, No. 4 Santa Margarita 67: The Eagles (17-14) were victimized by a couple of early three-point baskets, fell behind by 11 points at the end of hte first quarter and remained there in the final game of Coach Jerry DeBusk's career. It was the 13th time in 20 seasons at Santa Margarita that DeBusk's team had reached the semifinals, but hopes of winning a sixth section title were turned back after a long road trip to play the Warriors (27-4), champion of the Mission League looking to win their firs section title. Wolfie Wood scored 16 and Ryan Merritt 11 for Santa Margarita. For DeBusk, he ended his career—including time spent with Newport Harbor—with a 640-254 record and 71.6 winning percentage. At Santa Margarita, his teams went 467-136 (77.7).

Other: No. 3 Oak Park 67, No. 2 St. John Bosco 66.