April 30, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

PCL boys basketball post season tournament runs Wednesday through Friday

Woodbridge High School’s gymnasium is one of the sites for the PCL boys basketball tournament. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Pacific Coast League boys basketball teams will compete in the second post-season league tournament beginning Wednesday and running through Friday.

Teams are seeded one through eight based on their first seven regular season games and go into the tournament with points based on those games.

Sage Hill (8 points) is top seeded, followed by Northwood (7), Woodbridge (6), Irvine (5), Beckman (4), Portola (3), University (2) and Laguna Hills (1).

After the conclusion of the tournament, the teams with the top four point totals from the regular season and tournament earn the league’s top automatic qualifier spots. Teams that have .500 records can also be considered for at-large berths.

All first round games are at 7 p.m. Teams that win advance to the winners side of the bracket, teams that lose move to the consolation side.

There will be four games on the final day of the tournament at Portola on Friday, Feb. 2: 3 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 6 p.m. and the championship at 7:30 p.m.

The tournament was adopted last year by league coaches as an alternative for the second round of league play.

Sage Hill defeated Laguna Hills to win last year’s tournament. It’s the last year of the PCL with teams moving on to different leagues next year.

Opening round

Wednesday, Jan. 31

Laguna Hills at Sage Hill

Beckman at Irvine

Portola at Woodbridge

University at Northwood

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