Pacifica Christian’s boys basketball team beat Orange Lutheran by one point on Jan. 7.
It was a nonleague game, part of a series of games in the BSN Showcase that day at Pacifica Christian. The game’s result, a 54-53 win for the Tritons, was important only to Orange County rankings.
Maybe it also did something, pro or con, for players’ confidence.
Two months later, the Tritons and Lancers meet again. This time the result will matter much more.
Pacifica Christian (26-9) and Orange Lutheran (23-11) play each other Tuesday in the CIF Southern California Regional Division II championship game at Orange Lutheran at 7 p.m.
The winner advances to the CIF State Championship game Saturday in Sacramento.
Orange Lutheran was not at full strength in that Jan. 7 game. The Lancers were without starting sophomore post player John Gazzaniga (6-7, 230), who was at a football camp in Texas that day.
“He is a big piece of what they do,” Pacifica Christian coach Jeff Berokoff said of Gazzaniga.
Gazzaniga scored 13 points with eight rebounds Saturday when Orange Lutheran beat Tesoro 51-50 in a SoCal Regional semifinal.
In the Jan. 7 game, Pacifica Christian sophomore EJ Spillman scored 10 points with six rebounds. Senior guard Parker Strauss, who signed with Northwestern, scored 11 points.
In the CIF Southern Section Division 2A playoffs, Pacifica Christian, a private school in Newport Beach with an enrollment of 279 students, was eliminated by La Mirada in the semifinals.
All of the CIF-SS semifinalists qualified for the CIF State playoffs, and Pacifica Christian was placed in field of 16 teams for the CIF SoCal Division II Regional.
Orange Lutheran, with an enrollment 1,395, lost to Tesoro in the CIF-SS Division 2AA championship game.
Like Pacifica Christian, Orange Lutheran took advantage of the opportunity in the state playoffs with three wins including Saturday’s victory over Tesoro.
Pacifica Christian opened regional play with a 74-62 road win over Birmingham…
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