BOYS’ DIVISION II

Santa Margarita (30-2) vs. Compton (27-4)

3 TODAY PAULEY PAVILION

Compton produced the biggest upset of this year’s playoffs on Thursday, when it defeated Compton Dominguez, the two-time defending state champions, in the Division II semifinals, 67-54. Compton and Santa Margarita played in the Southern Section Division II-AA final last week at the Bren Center, where Santa Margarita’s match-up zone defense helped produce a 71-57 victory. Compton’s 6-foot-9 center, David Hamilton, played in that game two days after he was slightly wounded in a drive-by shooting. Hamilton scored 27 points and had 12 rebounds. A key has to be the play of Compton guard Tito Maddox. Maddox, who averages 12 points, missed all 11 of his field-goal attempts against Santa Margarita last week. And Compton guard DeAndre Moore, who averages 16.8 points a game but had only 11 in the section final loss, has to figure out a way to overcome the match-up zone. Santa Margarita could use another good effort from swingman Craig Rice, who had 15 points and 10 assists in the first meeting. Dekker McKeever, who scored 12 points and had eight rebounds against Compton last week, will be asked to contain Hamilton if he gets the ball inside. The winner of today’s game advances to the state championship game March 20 in Sacramento, where it it will play either Mountain View St. Francis (25-7) or Santa Rosa Montgomery (25-7).

Key Players:

Santa Margarita

Ryan Forehan-Kelly guard, senior

Dekker McKeever center, senior

Craig Rice guard, senior

Jake Rohe forward, senior

T.J. Williams guard, senior

Compton

David Hamilton center, senior

Reggie Howard guard, senior

Tito Maddox guard, senior

DeAndre Moore guard, senior

Ryan Ross guard/forward, senior