Wipeouts like these usually are reserved for the North Shore of Oahu.

San Diego Section boys basketball teams lost 10 of 11 games in the first round of the Southern California regional playoffs.

Girls teams helped ease the pain and won 6 of 14.

In four games in which San Diego boys teams had more favorable seeds their combined record was 1-3.

Mater Dei (29-2), the 4 seed in Division II, was the only area squad to win, defeating visiting Tustin (22-9), 59-50.

‘Dei will get a second home game Friday night when it takes on 5 seed Calabasas (28-5), which defeated Sylmar of the Los Angeles City Section, 57-54.

More negative reinforcement is expected Friday night when Open division play begins. No. 8 St. Augustine (29-3) is at 1 Santa Ana Mater Dei (31-0) and 6 La Costa Canyon (27-5) goers to Redondo Beach Redondo Union (24-5).

WOMEN PICK UP SLACK

No. 8 Mission Hills girls (23-8) won their 13^th in  a row, outlasting Alhambra Mark Keppel in Division-I, 54-50, and will move on with another road  game Friday at 1 Moreno Valley Canyon Springs (21-6), which outran Corona Centennial, 94-74.

Seven seed La Costa Canyon (26-3) is at 2 West Torrance (31-4) in D-II after a 53-51 win over Redondo Beach Redondo. The Warriors advanced with a 45-35 win over the L.A. City’s Bell.

Mount Miguel (26-5) will be home to 12 Selma (27-5) of the Central Section after the Matadors defeated visiting Yorba Linda, 52-45.  The 12^th-ranked Selma Bears upset 5 Inglewood, 58-53.

No. 6 Mater Dei (23-8)  moved on in D-IV to meet 3 Torrance Bishop Montgomery (24-8).  The Crusaders defeated 11 Fullerton Rosary (17-15), 48-44, and Bishop Monty blew out Exeter, 61-27.

D-V is a trip, if you’ll pardon the original 1960s expression.

Horizon, the 8 seed coming in with an 8-18 record, topped 9 San Bernardino Aquinas (27-3), 75-33.

The Panthers will meet the L.A. Ribet Fighting Frogs (22-8), the top seed.

The 5 seed Panthers dispatched 9 San Bernardino Aquinas (27-3), 75-33, while Ribet had a bye.

La Jolla Country Day (18-11), the Open Division winner last week in  San  Diego, was able to drop all the way to D-V and responded with a 63-19 victory as a 3 seed over L.A. Shalhevet (19-6).

The Torreys  have a 187-mile bus ride ahead before they can take on 6 Lancaster Edwards Air Force Base Desert (24-1), which ousted Lake Isabella Kern Valley, 35-11.

Yes, 35-11.

What goes around, comes around.

La Costa Canyon, ranked No. 1 in the first UT-San Diego basketball poll in December, is first again after vacating the top spot weeks ago.

The Mavericks defeated St. Augustine, 62-60, in the San Diego Section Open Division championship last week and received 10 first-place votes.  St. Augustine dropped to second and Mater Dei, which received three first-place votes, is third.

The first eight teams will be in Southern California playoffs beginning Wednesday. Morse, ranked ninth, and San Marcos, ranked 10th, played in the Division I final last week but were dissed by the state playoff committee.

**Points awarded on 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis
NR Not ranked.

Others receiving votes: Orange Glen, 8; Eastlake, 6; Foothills Christian, 2.

Thirteen sportswriters, sportscasters and CIF representatives from throughout San Diego County vote in the weekly poll:
John Maffei, Craig Malveaux and Don Norcross (U-T San Diego);
Terry Monahan (U-T San Diego stringer);
Bill Dickens, Andrew Smith (eastcountysports.com);
Steve Brand (San Diego Hall of Champions);
John Kentera and Jack Cronin (The Mighty 1090);
John Labeta (CIF San Diego Section office);
Rick Smith (Partletonsports.com);
Bodie DeSilva (sandiegopreps.com);
Aaron Burgin (fulltimehoops.tumblr.com).

Talk about a kick in the pelvic region.  The new State Basketball Tournament Open Division pairings did no favors for two San Diego Section stalwarts.

The seedings and pairings were announced by the state CIF this evening.

St. Augustine (28-3) will visit Santa Ana Mater Dei (31-0), the nation’s No. 2-ranked team, Friday night, March 14.

Santa Ana Mater Dei is the top seed in the Open Division and the Saints are No. 8.

On the same evening, La Costa Canyon (27-5), seeded sixth, goes to Redondo Beach Redondo (24-5), seeded third.

La Costa Canyon, playing from behind as the fourth seed, won the San Diego Section Open championship by defeating St. Augustine, 62-60, before more than 4,000 persons  at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus on Saturday night.

The Saints were the state D-III champions last season and would have been accorded at least an even chance to repeat, but they will not get that more competitively friendly opportunity.

The Open Division includes four Southern Section squads (Mater Dei, Redondo, Riverside North, and Etiwanda), two from San Diego, two from the Los Angeles Section (El Camino Real and Westchester), and zero from the Central Section.

No San Diego Section team gets a home game until Division II. The highest seed for any San Diego Section squad is 3 by the La Jolla Country Day women.  Mount Miguel’s women are seeded fourth.

Chula Vista Mater Dei is the highest seed among men’s teams, with a 4.

Unhappiness award goes to San Diego D-I winner Morse (18-12) and IV winner Orange Glen (26-5), who are uninvited.

All divisions except Open begin play Wednesday, March 12.

First round airings:

MEN’S DIVISION  I
–No. 13 seed Torrey Pines (26-5) at 4 Lakewood Mayfair (23-6).
–No. 10 El Camino (27-4) at 7 Mission Viejo (24-7).

II
–No. 13 Tustin (22-8) at 4 Chula Vista Mater Dei (28-2).
–No. 10 Santa Ana Foothill (23-7) at 7 Francis Parker (26-5).
–No. 14 San Diego Hoover (18-11) at 3 Anaheim Canyon (28-4).

III
–No. 11 La Canada St. Francis (19-12) at 6 Kearny (25-2).
–No. 13 Sweetwater (28-1) at 4 Brea Olinda (23-10).

IV
–No. 9 Tri-City Christian (21-9) at 8 San Juan Capistrano JSerra (18-11).

V
–No. 10 Palm Springs Desert Chapel (23-5) at 7 Escondido Adventist (20-6).
–No. 12 Lutheran (16-7) at San Juan Capistrano Saddleback Valley Christian (25-6).

WOMEN’S DIVISION I

–No. 8 Mission Hills (22-8) at 9 Alhambra Mark Keppel (26-3).
–No. 13 Mt. Carmel (25-7) at 4 Fullerton Troy (22-7).

II
–No. 10 Redondo Beach Redondo (20-10) at 7 La Costa Canyon (25-3).
–No. 9 Poway (17-11) at Norco (26-5).
–No. 14 San Diego Serra (19-10) at Placentia El Dorado (26-5).

III
–No. 13 Yorba Linda (11-15) at 4 Mount Miguel (25-5).

IV
–No. 11 Fullerton Rosary (17-14) at 6 Chula Vista Mater Dei (22-8).
–No. 13 Ocean View Christian (17-3) at 4 San Juan Capistrano JSerra (21-10).

V
–No. 14 L.A. Shalhevet (19-3) at 3 La Jolla Country Day (16-11).
–No. 9 San Bernardino Aquinas (27-2) at 8 Horizon (9-18).
No. 12 Foothills Christian (17-5) at 4 Garden Grove Orangewood (23-8).

St. Augustine and La Costa Canyon, which played arguably the game of the regular season in January, go for the gold tonight.

The Saints edged the Mavericks, 79-74, as part of a Martin Luther King Day doubleheader at Francis Parker and things haven’t changed.  Expect the score to be a little lower but the intensity a little higher.

To the winner goes the San Diego Section Open Division championship.

The question that remains unanswered is where these two clubs will be placed in next week’s Southern California regionals, depending, of course, on the loser getting a bid.

Does St. Augustine stay in the Open Division or go back to D-III?  Does La Costa Canyon revert to D-1?

Two of the area’s best coaches, the Saints’ Mike Haupt and La Costa’s Dave Cassaw, will match wits again.

Tip is at 7 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus.  Another big game will begin at the same time about 10 miles east, when San Diego State opposes New Mexico for the Mountain West Conference title.

PREDICTION

St. Augustine 64, La Costa Canyon 58.

Kearny High found the key to ending Sweetwater’s great run Saturday afternoon.

Coach Carl Bronson, ably assisted by UT-San Diego sportswriter Mark Zeigler, exposed the shorter Red Devils’ lack of a low post defense.

The strategy allowed the Komets to repeatedly attack from the low block under the basket for layups and point-blank shots.

Kearny took the lead at 33-32 at the start of the third quarter and never looked back, pulling away for a 73-58 victory in the San Diego Section III finals before about 2,500 persons at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

David Moa led Kearny with 19 points and 18 rebounds in a contest that had a pin ball machine pace.

Errant passes and turnovers were routine as the Komets matched Sweetwater’s rapid, pressing style, which had worn down the Red Devils’ first 28 opponents.

Spencer Mattox  scored 19 points for Sweetwater but the hustling, high-energy senior seemed fatigued in the second half.

For the game, Mattox missed on five three-point attempts.

Kearny, now 25-2, await its seeding and opponent in the Southern California playoffs next week.

How uncommon is this?

When Kearny (23-2) meets Sweetwater (28-0) Friday afternoon the teams will be coached by alumni of their respective schools.

At stake will be the San Diego Section Division IV championship.

Historian Greg (Stats) Durrant came up with this and other nuggets as the veteran prep sports maven prepared to take in five boys’ and girls’ division finals Friday and five more Saturday at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus.

Sweetwater is coached by Jesse Aguirre, class of 1985,  Kearny by Carl Bronson, class of 1983.

Both schools returned to prominence this year.

KOMETS BACK

Kearny is making its first appearance in the finals since a 73-55 loss to Ramona in 1991.

The Komets’ heyday was in  the 1970s, when they won three championships, topped by the 32-0, 1973-74 club that featured a fiery, longhaired Alan Trammel, destined to become a legendary shortstop for the Detroit Tigers.

Kearny defeated Sweetwater, 57-50, in 1979 in the Red Devils’ next-to-last appearance in the finals.

Sweetwater edged Mt. Carmel, 78-71, for the division championship in 1990 and made six other appearances, going 0-6 between 1991 and 2013.

SAINTS MOVE VENUE

As home team for its semifinal Open Division contest against Torrey Pines, the St. Augustine Saints were faced with a problem.

Dougherty Gymnasium, built in 1952, was too small for playoff competition, according to CIF rule.

The gym was constructed with about 600 seats, more than enough for a student body about half that size in 60-odd years ago.

Saints athletic director Mike Stephenson negotiated for the  University City facility.

The Centurions’ gym seats around 1,500 and more than 200 were turned away Wednesday night before the  Saints (28-2) pulled out a 49-45 victory over  Torrey Pines (26-5).

Larger venues probably were available, but U. City is in the same league as St. Augustine and the Saints were familiar with the layout.

Where the game was played may not have helped the winners but certainly didn’t hurt.

MORSE’S CINDERELLA SLIPPER

San Marcos (21-8) faces surprising, No. 12 seed Morse, a D-I finalist for the first time since 1988.

The Tigers (17-12), coached by 1984 graduate Bob Sumler, are making their first appearance in the finals since a 67-62 loss to Santana 26 years ago.

Morse defeated Monte Vista, 59-51, for the 1987 title.

Other matchups include Mater Dei (27-2) against Francis Parker (25-4) in D-II and Orange Glen (25-5) and Tri-City Christian (21-8) in D-IV.

PREDICTIONS

San Marcos 70, Morse 60.

Mater Dei 65, Francis Parker 59.

Sweetwater 76, Kearny 66.

Orange Glen 56, Tri-City Christian 50.

Game of the week will be Saturday night, when St. Augustine (28-2) meets La Costa Canyon (26-5) for the Open championship.

La Costa’s semifinal battle at El Camino (27-4) included a bizarre twist when the lights went out for 23 minutes.

The Mavericks came from seven behind in the final two minutes to force an overtime.

Semi-darkness set in with 31.5 seconds left in the extra session and El Camino leading 61-60.

La Costa’s Tommy McCarthy hit two free throws after play resumed and the Mavericks rode out three missed three attempts by the Wildcats.

St. Augustine defeated the Mavericks, 79-74, six weeks ago.