CIF-SS BOYS BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
DIVISION 2AA
EDISON (24-7) VS. AYALA OF CHINO HILLS (28-3)
Where, when: Honda Center, Saturday, 8:30 p.m.
Outlook: Ayala is the division’s top-seeded team. Edison is seeded second. Neither team has won a CIF-SS boys basketball championship. Edison finished second in the Sunset League. In the playoffs, the Chargers beat Segerstrom, 72-49, in the first round, Arroyo Grande, 55-43, in the second round, Claremont, 78-71, in the quarterfinals, and Kaiser of Fontana, 56-53, in the semifinals. The Chargers lost to Foothill in last season’s CIF-SS Division 1A championship game. Senior forward Garrett White, who was an All-County football receiver this past fall, is the only returning starter from that Edison team. The Chargers’ top two players are junior guards Nate Matthews and Randall Walker. Walker, 6-2, is averaging 21 points a game. Matthews, 6-3, is scoring 19 points a game. Edison coach Rich Boyce said his team must counter Ayala’s athleticism to beat the Bulldogs. “We’ve got to stop their penetration,” Boyce said, “and we’re going to have to rebound.” Boyce said the Chargers learned a thing or two from playing at Honda Center in the CIF-SS finals last season. “We got to Honda Center about a half hour, 45 minutes before game time,” he said. “This year, we’re going to get there earlier. We want the kids to settle in and get comfortable with the place.” Ayala was co-champion of the Palomares League. The Bulldogs lost to Mater Dei by four points in December in the championship game of the North Orange County Championships. (Mater Dei in that game was missing center MJ Cage, who was out because of injury.) Ayala has wins over O.C. teams JSerra, Servite and Corona del Mar. The Bulldogs’ Austen Awosika, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, signed with Cal State Fullerton. Miles President, a 6-3 senior forward, is a true scholar-athlete – he received a 2,350 on the SAT, for which a perfect score is 2,400. Caltech is among his potential college destinations. John Edgar, a 6-5 senior forward, has a scholarship offer from Vanguard University in Costa Mesa. Ayala coach John Mounce coached at Newport Harbor. His cousin Ryan Mounce is the basketball coach at El Dorado in Placentia. John Mounce said teamwork is the Bulldogs’ chief asset. “The guys trust each other,” he said. “They share the ball and every player understands his role.”
STEVE FRYER
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
