2016-17 Week 9: Saints Figure to be Wary in First Round
St Augustine finished No. 1 in the Union-Tribune regular-season poll, is the San Diego Section’s No. 1 seed in the Open Division playoffs, and is 11th in the state, according to Cal-Hi Sports as the Saints await No. 8 seed La Costa Canyon in a first-round game Saturday night in perhaps the last game ever at Dougherty Gym.
The tiny arena, erected in 1952, will remain standing and will serve other purposes on the Nutmeg Street campus, but the Saints will be playing in a new, 1,500-seat edifice in 2017-18.
The Saints (24-4) of coach Mike Haupt figure to dismiss the 19-8 Mavericks of coach Dave Cassaw, but one look at results in the Southern Section first round last week shows that anything can happen in the postseason.
St. Augustine moved up one spot in the Cal-Hi ratings because seventh-ranked Mission Hills Alemany was upset by bubble team Long Beach Poly, 66-48.
The 18-point loss was enough to catch one’s attention, but Poly’s victory was achieved despite setbacks from the moment the Jackrabbits got on the bus.
A normal, 45-mile, hour-and-a-half ride to the San Fernando campus of Alemany turned into a 4 1/2-hour journey through torrential rain, wind, road closures, and a unscheduled stop when the charter broke down.
For Long Beach it was all’s well that ends well.
Second-seeded Torrey Pines (26-3) plays host to No. 7, 20-8 La Jolla Country Day at the other end of the San Diego Section Open bracket.
Looming in the quarterfinals for St. Augustine or La Costa Canyon is either 5 Mater Dei Catholic (22-4) or 4 Foothills Christian (23-5).
The winner at Torrey Pines will get No. 3 Vista (23-3) or No. 6 Mission Hills (20-7).
GRIZZLIES STILL HOLD CLAW
The Girls’ Open tournament favors Mission Hills, 26-2 and Cal-Hi’s state No. 4. The top-seed Grizzlies take on 8 seed Serra (20-8) Friday night.
The Bishop’s is seeded second in the Open Division, but was knocked out of the Cal-High Top 20 when upset last week, 44-42, by charging La Jolla Country Day, 16-10, winner of six of its last seven, and seeded No. 3.
Union-Tribune Boys’ poll through Monday, Feb. 20:
| Rank | Team | Record | Points | Last Poll |
| 1 | St. Augustine (8) | 24-4 | 97 | 1 |
| 2 | Torrey Pines (2) | 26-3 | 90 | 2 |
| 3 | Foothills Christian | 23-5 | 81 | 3 |
| 4 | Vista | 25-3 | 68 | 4 |
| 5 | Helix | 23-5 | 54 | 5 |
| 6 | Mater Dei | 22-4 | 48 | 6 |
| 7 | Mission Hills | 20-7 | 33 | 7 |
| 8 | La Jolla Country Day | 20-8 | 31 | 8 |
| 9 | Rancho Bernardo | 21-6 | 10 | NR |
| 10 | Poway | 22-6 | 9 | 10 |
Others receiving votes: Olympian (25-2, 8 points) Canyon Crest (20-7, 7), Serra (24-4, 5), Granite Hills (22-6, 4), La Costa Canyon (20-7, 3), Coronado (27-3, 3).
Poll participants include John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune; Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions), Terry Monahan, Union-Tribune correspondent), Bill Dickens, Adam Paul, EastCountySports.com; Rick Willis, KUSI-TV; Rick Smith, partletonsports.com; Bodie DeSilva, sandiegopreps.com; Chris Davis, freelance; Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.