Playoff Chase Comes Down to Wire

Today is the end of the high school boys’ basketball regular season, and here’s a look at the playoff scenarios involving leagues with regional teams.

In the City Section, any league champion is guaranteed of hosting a first-round game in either the 4-A or 3-A division. If two teams tie for first in league, both teams automatically qualify for the playoffs, but only the No. 1-seeded team, which would be determined by a three-part tiebreaking procedure, would be guaranteed a home game in the first round.

Teams that finish second or lower can qualify for the playoffs with at-large berths determined at a seeding meeting Saturday.

To qualify for the Southern Section playoffs, a team must finish among the top three in its league if it’s part of a five-, six- or seven-team league and in the top four if it’s a member of an eight-team league.

Teams that fail to meet those criteria can petition for an at-large berth in the playoffs if they win at least 10 regular-season games.

Here is a synopsis of the qualifying for the playoffs entering today’s games.

CITY SECTION

4-A Division

West Valley League--Taft (14-5, 7-2) has clinched the title. Cleveland (15-9, 5-4) will wrap up second with a victory over Kennedy (7-15, 0-9) or a Chatsworth (14-9, 5-4) loss to Taft.

East Valley League--Grant (17-7, 8-1) has a one-game lead over North Hollywood (17-8, 7-2), but North Hollywood could tie for first--and get the league’s No. 1 seeding entering the playoffs--with a win over Grant tonight. Although the teams would have 1-1 records against each other in that scenario, North Hollywood would have a better league record, as opposed to each teams’ 8-2 mark in the Valley Pac-8 Conference.

3-A Division

Mid-Valley League--Sylmar (14-9, 7-2) has clinched the league title. Reseda (9-14, 4-5) can wrap up second with a victory over Poly (9-14, 3-6).

North Valley League--San Fernando (22-2, 9-0) has clinched the league title. Birmingham (14-9, 4-5) can wrap up second with a victory over El Camino Real (8-13, 3-6).

SOUTHERN SECTION

Channel League--Dos Pueblos (22-4, 12-2) won the league title by two games over Oxnard (16-8, 10-4) and San Marcos (20-5, 10-4) with Santa Barbara (16-10, 9-5) fourth in the eight-team league.

Since Oxnard and San Marcos split their two games against each other, a coin flip will determine who advances to the playoffs as the league’s No. 2- and 3-seeded teams.

Foothill League--Hart (17-9, 8-2) beat Valencia (20-6, 7-3) on Thursday night to determine first and second place. Burroughs (15-9, 5-4 before Thursday) wrapped up third earlier in the week.

Frontier League--Santa Paula (19-5, 8-1) can clinch the title with a victory over Calabasas (10-14, 3-6). Moorpark (20-6, 7-2) would then finish second, no matter how it fared against Nordhoff (11-11, 4-5).

Nordhoff can clinch third with a victory against Moorpark or with a Calabasas loss to Santa Paula and a Santa Clara (9-12, 3-6) loss to Malibu (7-14, 2-7). If Santa Paula and Moorpark tie for first, a coin flip will determine the league’s No. 1 team for the playoffs.

Golden League--First-place Antelope Valley (17-8, 7-2) can clinch the title with a victory over Lancaster (6-16, 2-7). Quartz Hill (14-11, 6-3) and Palmdale (15-9, 6-3) have the other two playoff spots wrapped up, no matter what happens tonight.

Marmonte League--Newbury Park (22-4, 13-0) and Simi Valley (21-5, 10-3) have clinched first and second in the eight-team league.

If Channel Islands (17-6, 8-5) loses to Camarillo (8-14, 2-11) and Agoura (13-10, 7-6) beats Westlake (12-11, 5-8), there would be a two-way tie for third. But Channel Islands would be the league’s No. 3-seeded team because the Raiders beat Agoura twice in league play.

Mission League--Chaminade (22-1, 11-0) has clinched first and Loyola (18-7, 9-2) has wrapped up second. Harvard-Westlake (18-7, 6-5) can clinch third with a victory over Crespi (12-12, 5-6).

A Crespi win combined with a St. Francis (12-12, 5-6) upset of Chaminade would create a three-way tie for third. Because Harvard-Westlake, Crespi and St. Francis would each have 1-1 records against each other in that scenario, the league’s No. 3 team would be decided by a series of coin flips.

Pacific League--Muir (20-5, 9-0) has clinched the league title. Crescenta Valley (16-10, 6-4) defeated Hoover (16-9, 6-4) for the second time this season Thursday night.

Pasadena (15-11, 6-3) can clinch second with a victory over Muir tonight. A loss by Pasadena would create a three-way tie for second. Pasadena beat Crescenta Valley twice.

A series of coin flips would determine the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.

Tri-Valley League--Bishop Diego (17-5, 6-1) can clinch the title with a victory against St. Bonaventure (9-12, 0-7) and Oak Park (13-9, 5-2) can wrap up second place by beating Fillmore (12-10, 2-5). A loss by Oak Park would drop the Eagles into a second-place tie with Carpinteria (12-8, 5-3) with the No. 2-seeding being determined by a coin flip.