MATADORE PLAYOFF WEEK

Matadore Boys & Girls Draw Tough First Round Opponents; Both Games on the Road

La Mirada~It looked as if the La Mirada Matadores boys basketball team was going to miss the CIF playoffs for the first time since 1992-in fact, we posted as much on our Twitter feed.

But, much to our dismay, and with egg on our face, we digress, and are pleased to report the Matadores (10-19, 5-7), were picked as an at-large bid in Division 3AA by the CIF selection committee and will travel to play North High School of Torrance Wednesday night, beginning at 7pm.

The young Matadores will play a North team that finished its Pioneer League schedule with six straight wins.

La Mirada, despite losing four of its last five, has made vast improvements since the beginning of the campaign. First year head coach Steve Schuster, has had his team playing competitively in the Suburban League, despite having a very young team-if not the youngest.

An on-court incident recently during the game at Mayfair, resulted in the exit of Roger Hamel, and his Dad, Roger Sr. from the team, and has opened up the door for Sharad Patel to take over the three-point shooting duties for the Mats. A pure shooting senior, Patel has excelled since the change.

La Mirada turned to starting two freshmen as the season evolved-Deion Golfin and Tyler Luatua. Golfin wasn't even on the team for the start of the season, but ended up being the Mats starting point guard. Luatua became a dominating force under the rim as the season progressed.

The future looks very bright with many players returning next season such as Nikko Quinones (Jr.), Cody Mahffey (Jr.), Jesse Gonzalez (Jr.), Devon Hall (Jr.), Jarrett Davis (So.), Samy Alarcon (So.), Charlie Reid (So.), Kane Fetui (So.), and freshmen Luatua and Golfin.

But for now, the Mats have a tough task on-hand this Wednesday night against North High, hoping to advance to the next round this season.

Girls Update:

The Lady Matadores also received an at-large bid, in Division 3A, drawing a first-round match-up this Thursday at Monrovia High School starting at 7pm.

In their finale of the regular season this past Friday at home, the Mats (9-14, 2-8), won a rough, gritty, overtime game against Cerritos, despite three of their starters fouling out.

Soccer:

Boys (10-6-7) will also play North High in Division 4 first-round action, Friday at 3pm.

Girls (22-1-3), the number 4 seed in Division 3, will play at home against either La Salle or Westridge on Thursday, also at 3pm.

UPDATE: Boys basketball lost soundly to No. Torrance 85-51; girls basketball lost to Monrovia 57-32; boys soccer lost to North Torrance 0-0 (4-2); and Div. 3, No.4 seed girls soccer beat La Salle 1-0, and advance to second round Tuesday 2/22 @ Quartz Hill (Lancaster).