St. Augustine won the best 2 out of 5 with Cathedral Catholic.

The Saints defeated the Dons with a 25-13 fourth quarter tonight and earned a berth in the Southern California regional finals Saturday at Colony High in Ontario. The final score was 55-45.

Coach Mike Haupt’s team commanded the backboards and hit the big shots in the final period to win their second straight from Cathedral after losing three in a row to their Catholic rivals during the  regular season.

The other Saints victory was 62-36 last week in the San Diego Section finals.

A overflow crowd of about 2,700 taxed the Rancho Bernardo venue.  The gymnasium lights went out five times during warm-ups and the tipoff was delayed 10 minutes.  The building’s air conditioning apparently was stressed by the warm weather and testosterone-filled crowd.

The Saints led 24-15 late in the second quarter, but the Dons gradually went ahead 34-32 early in the fourth.  That’s when “shoulda-been-Section-player-of-the-year” Trey Kell took over, answering two three-points baskets by Cathedral with two of his own and put the game away with free throws.

Cathedral’s frustration was mirrored by guard David Rosenberg, a player you don’t like, if he’s not on your team.

With 3 seconds remaining and the game clinched, the Saints retreated to their bench.  The fiery Rosenberg took an inbounds pass, dribbled the length of the court and missed a dunk as the game ended.

San Diego Section basketball gets its most severe test.

Tonight’s Southern California regional semifinals could provide the most definitive view of how local teams stack up against some of the strongest Los Angeles-area teams.

The most intriguing matchups take place about 10 miles from each other in L.A.’s  Westside beach communities.

Division II No. 3 seed Hoover (31-5) visits  2 seed Redondo Beach Redondo Union  and 4 seed Mission Hills is at 1 seed Santa Monica.

Redondo is ranked 27^th in the state by CalPreps and Hoover 31^st.  Santa Monica is 19^th and Mission Hills 21^st.

The game of the year in San Diego is at Rancho Bernardo High, where 1 seed St. Augustine, eighth in CalPreps, and 5 seed Cathedral Catholic,  22^nd, meet for the fifth time in the season.

D-IV 2 seed Army-Navy,  24^th-ranked,  has a home game at Oceanside High against 6 seed Bishop Montgomery, fifth in CalPreps.

Mission Hills and Hoover are the road, making for very difficult  challenges.

We’ll strain what’s left of my credibility once more by attempting to select  winners and scores.

PREDICTIONS
St. Augustine 60, Cathedral Catholic 55.

Redondo Union  64, Hoover 62.

Santa Monica 65, Mission Hills 56.

Torrance Bishop Montgomery 68, Army-Navy 59.

L.A. View Park 60, Horizon 49.