St. Augustine, priming for what it hopes will be a deep run in the postseason playoffs, has a pair of Western League games this week and a final, tough intersectional test against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame Saturday in the Nike Extravaganza at Santa Ana Mater Dei.
The Saints have a home game Wednesday against Hoover (11-9) and are at San Diego (15-7) Friday. Then they’ll play the next day at 5 p.m. against the Notre Dame Knights, ranked seventh by Cal-Hi Sports (St. Augustine is sixth) and 14th by MaxPreps (the Saints are fifth), the two major state polls.
Notre Dame is 16-8 and was beaten by San Ysidro, 87-82, here in December. The Knights play in the powerful Mission League, which includes Studio City Harvard-Westlake (23-1) and Chatsworth Sierra Canyon (18-5).
The Saints and Knights are the only teams to have defeated San Ramon Dougherty Valley, a 19-2 team from the North Coast Section. St. Augustine has a 62-58 victory and Notre Dame a 65-53 win over the Wildcats.
The Mesa League picture should come into more focus Wednesday when Montgomery, 6-0 in league play, 18-3 overall, and averaging 74.8 points, visits San Ysidro, 5-0 in league, 12-8 overall, and averaging 83.3 points.
The San Diego Union-Tribune Week 8 poll:
First-place votes in parenthesis.
Points on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis.
First-place votes in parenthesis. Last entries in columns indicate previous rank.
Cal-Hi Sports’ and Max Preps’ represent state rankings. NR—Not ranked.
| # | TEAM | RECORD | POINTS | PREVIOUS | MAX-PREPS | CAL-HI SPORTS |
| 1 | St. Augustine | 18-3 (19) | 190 | 1 | 5/5 | 6/6 |
| 2 | Carlsbad | 18-4 | 171 | 2 | 38/42 | Bubble/Bubble |
| 3 | San Ysidro | 12-8 | 142 | 3 | 66/104 | Bubble/Bubble |
| 4 | Montgomery | 17-3 | 124 | 5 | 52/57 | NR/NR |
| 5 | Mission Bay | 16-6 | 113 | 4 | 79/89 | NR/NR |
| 6 | Torrey Pines | 15-6 | 98 | 6 | 61/77 | NR/NR |
| 7 | Mater Dei | 16-6 | 65 | 7 | 99/90 | NR/NR |
| 8 | Lincoln | 20-2 | 51 | 9 | 147/143 | NR/NR |
| 9 | Santa Fe Christian | 17-4 | 28 | 8 | 103/96 | NR/NR |
| 10 | La Costa Canyon | 11-9 | 25 | NR | 73/92 | NR/NR |
Others receiving votes
La Jolla Country Day (17-6, 13 points), West Hills (19-2, 7), Otay Ranch (13-7, 7), Del Norte (12-5, 6), San Diego (15-7, 5), Otay Ranch (12-6, 14), Victory Christian (15-5, 4), Mission Hills (12-9, 1).
VOTING PANEL
- John Maffei, San Diego Union-Tribune.
- Steve Brand, Terry Monahan, Eric Williams, Freelance contributors.
- Rick Smith, partletonsports.com.
- Adam Paul, eastcountysports.com.
- John Kentera, Braden Supremant (97.3 FM The Fan).
- Bodie DeSilva, scoreboardlive.com.
- Steve (Biff) Dolan, Mountain Country 107.9 FM.
- Christian Pedersen, San Diego Sports Association.
- Todd Cassen, Joe Heinz, Ron Marquez, CIF San Diego Section.
- Rex Johnson, CIF Advisory Committee.
- Joe Evangelist, San Diego Coaching Legends Committee.
- Tom Helmantoler, Southern Conference Advisor.
- Aaron Burgin, fulltimehoops.com.
- Max-Preps.
