Nate Matthews and Randall Walker are Edison’s best-known players, and rightfully so.
Edison coach Rich Boyce is equally pleased by the play of other Chargers as they advanced to the CIF-SS Division 2AA quarterfinals.
David Atencio, a sophomore who might be better at football than basketball, is among them.
“For this being his first year playing point guard, he’s doing an outstanding job,” Boyce said. “He’s great at getting us into our half-court sets, and he’s playing a lot better defensively.”
Atencio was an All-Sunset League receiver in the fall.
“And you can’t talk about defense without talking about Garrett White,” Boyce said. “Garrett’s not only so good defensively, but he’s also such a leader out there on the court.”
White was the Sunset League’s MVP in football as a receiver and defensive back. He is the son of longtime Edison football coach Dave White.
“Jake Barton’s been coming off the bench and giving us a spark offensively,” Boyce said. “In the Arroyo Grande game, he took two charges and caused a couple of 35-second shot clock violations.”
Edison plays tonight at Claremont.
Matthews and Walker? They’re doing fine, too.
Matthews scored 23 points in the Chargers’ win over Arroyo Grande in the second round. Walker, like Matthews a junior, scored 23 points in a first-round win over Segerstrom.
Jump stops around Orange County basketball:
• In one of the oddities of the CIF-SS basketball playoffs, Edison dropped to Division 2AA this season after playing in the 1A championship game last season. The current system, which will be replaced by a purely competitive equity-based one next season, is designed to move teams to higher divisions if they have had previous playoff success.
• Orangewood Academy took a 7-17 record into the 5A playoffs. The Spartans beat Le Lycee of Los Angeles by 34 points in the first round and defeated Rolling Hills Prep of San Pedro by nine points in the second round. They play at top-seeded and defending division champion St. Bernard of Playa del Rey in the quarterfinals tonight.
• Orangewood, Division 6 champion last season, had some transfers who sat out the first month of this season. “Our kids are just now getting into that rhythm of playing together,” said Orangewood coach Ansar Al Ameene. “The process is starting to actually work, and now we’ve settled into a little groove.”
• Player of the week Uriel Batista has led the offense for Orangewood. Al Ameene said also pitching in have been senior point guard Austin Oswald, Erik Grajales, Andrew Nate and Kuerban Adili.
• Northwood senior Jake Linsky scored 18 points in a 2A first-round win over Marina and had 24 points and 14 rebounds in a second-round loss to Cerritos.
• Mater Dei sophomore Spencer Freedman scored 17 points in a win over Cantwell-Sacred Heart of Montebello in an Open Division first-round game. The Monarchs created 16 turnovers in the game.
• JSerra senior guard Alec Hickman scored 23 points with four rebounds and five assists when the Lions beat Costa Mesa in a 4AA first-round game, and he scored 20 points with seven rebounds and five assists in a second-round win over Banning. He did not play in the fourth quarter of either game. Hickman committed to Cal.
• Buena Park coach Aaron Riekenberg said senior forward Joe Galvan has been an important contributor for the Coyotes as they reached the 3AA quarterfinals. “Since the end of league,” Riekenberg said, “he’s been demanding the ball more and he’s taking it to the rack more, and not just settling for jumpers.” Galvan scored 12 points with 10 rebounds in Buena Park’s second-round win over third-seeded Esperanza.
• Coin flips needed to decide home teams for some of Friday’s games were completed Monday. When two teams meet after the first round of the playoffs, the team with the fewest number of playoff home games at that point of the playoffs is the home team. If the teams have played the same number of playoff home games a coin flop determines the home team.
• Coin flip results for Friday’s games are at cifss.org. Go to the CIF-SS’s website and when there go to “sports” and then “boys basketball.” Coin flip results are toward the bottom of the page at a link that has a U.S. quarter as its icon.
• CIF-SS championship games are March 4 and 5 at Honda Center, Azusa Pacific University and Godinez High. Generally, the higher divisions play at Honda Center. The Open Division final is a sure-thing game at Honda Center on March 5.
• All Open Division teams, no matter how they fared in the CIF-SS playoffs, will play in the CIF Southern California Regionals, the qualify tournament for the CIF State championships. Open Division teams that lose today won’t play again for 15 days – March 9, when Regionals play begins. Open Division teams can schedule a scrimmage with another Open Division team as long as that scrimmage occurs between Feb. 29 and March 4.
• Eight of Saddleback Valley Christian’s 11 losses are to teams still alive in the CIF-SS playoffs.
• Laguna Beach held Covina to 32 percent shooting from the field, forced 14 turnovers and took six charges in a 4AA first-round win.
• The Breakers then traveled to Atascadero, 271 miles, for a second-round win. It was not the longest road trip for Laguna Beach basketball. Laguna Beach went 300 miles for a playoff game at Bishop in 1991.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
