Time for OC boys basketball teams to begin league play; here’s some of the key games

Century’s Damian Martinez brings the ball up during a tournament game. (File photo: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

After two months of nonleague and tournament games, Orange County boys basketball teams continue their push for CIF playoff spots with league games this week. Some are Tuesday and some are Wednesday.

There are some great match-ups in the first two days of league play.

Here’s some of them:

—Defending Empire League champion Cypress takes on Tustin in the opener Tustin night at 6 at Tustin. Both teams take impressive records into the opener. Cypress, coached by Derek Mitchell is 11-5 while Tustin, coached by Ringo Bossenmeyer, is 12-5. The Tillers have some added incentive after missing the playoffs last season with a 13-13 record.

—Godinez, coached by Greg Coombs, hosts Garden Grove Tuesday night in a Golden West League opener at 7 p.m.

—Pacific Coast League teams have struggled in the non-league portion of their schedule, but the two teams with the best records, Beckman and Portola, meet Tuesday night at Portola. Beckman is the defending champion but this year’s team looks nothing like last year’s. Both teams are 8-10 overall.

—Century with a 9-8 record under first-year coach Andres Hernandez has the best record in the Orange League. Tuesday night, the Centurions play at Katella (3-11) at 5:30 p.m.

—-Estancia’s boys basketball team looks like the class of the Orange Coast League. The Eagles, 15-3 overall, play at Santa Ana Wednesday night.

—Tesoro has rolled up an 14-3 overall record and Wednesday night, Coach Steve Garrett’s team hosts talented Dana Hills (13-4) at 7 p.m. in the Sea View League opener.

—South County rivals Capistrano Valley (15-1) and Mission Viejo (17-2) will battle it out Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the South Coast League opener. Both teams are coming off impressive performances in non-league play, so this one should be very intense and very entertaining.

We will have game coverage on OC Sports Zone and updates later in the evening. We encourage coaches and team representatives to email us with your scores and leading scorers. Please send the information to Tim Burt: timburt@ocsportszone.com so we can share with our readers. Please include first and last names and team record.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com