The boys basketball teams for Capistrano Valley, Esperanza, Mater Dei, Santa Margarita and Villa Park found out Sunday they will have home games in the CIF Southern California Regionals first round.
JSerra and Pacifica Christian have lengthy first-round road trips.
Mater Dei is home in the Open Division first round against Westchester of Los Angeles on Friday.
On Wednesday, Santa Margarita has a Division I first-round home game against Vista. Esperanza plays at home against Dorsey of Los Angeles in Division II on Wednesday.
In Division III on Wednesday, Capistrano Valley is home against Orange Glen of Escondido and Villa Park is home against Gardena.
The Orange County away teams in the regionals first round Wednesday are JSerra, which goes to Taft of Woodland Hills in Division I, and Pacifica Christian, which travels to Chavez of San Fernando in Division V.
All 16 teams that were selected to play in the CIF-Southern Section Open Division were guaranteed placement in the CIF Southern California Regionals that begin the state tournament.
Esperanza, JSerra, Mater Dei and Santa Margarita played in the CIF-SS Open Division.
Finalists in the other 11 CIF-SS divisions received guaranteed berths, and a few CIF-SS semifinalists got into the state tournament.
Regional tournaments happen simultaneously in Northern California and Southern California. Each of the two regionals has six divisions. The champions of the six Northern California divisions play the champions of the six Southern California divisions in the CIF State Championships.
Four of the CIF State’s 10 sections are represented in the CIF Southern California Regionals: the Central Section; the Los Angeles City Section; the San Diego Section; and the Southern Section, which includes Orange County.
The Southern Section, by far the largest of the four sections in the CIF Southern California Regionals, has by far the most representatives in the Southern California tournament with 44 teams across the six divisions.
The CIF Southern California Regionals schedule begins with first-round games in Divisions I-V on Wednesday. Open Division first-round games are Friday. Divisions I-V have second round games Saturday.
The semifinals of all six divisions are March 14. The CIF Southern California Regional finals are March 18 at the Walter Pyramid at Long Beach State for the Open Division and Division 1. The other division finals are at the host schools.
Divisions champions of the CIF Southern California Regionals play the CIF Northern California Regionals division champions March 24 and 25 in Sacramento.
Regionals first- and second-round games and semifinals are played at the host schools. The regionals tournament director can order a change of venue if anticipated attendance would be more than a host school’s gym could accommodate.
Capistrano Valley is the only Orange County team that is a CIF-Southern Section champion for the 2016-17 season. The Cougars won the CIF-SS Division 2A championship Saturday with a victory over Oxnard in the 2A final at Honda Center. Villa Park and Mater Dei lost Saturday in their CIF-SS finals.
