Saddleback Opens Against West L.A. in Community College Championship

Saddleback College is among four Orange County teams involved in first-round Southern Section community college men’s basketball playoff games tonight.

Saddleback (22-6), which is seeded No. 4, plays 20th-seeded West Los Angeles (15-13) at Saddleback at 7:30 p.m. The game will feature two of the state’s best forwards--Saddleback’s Vincent Smalls and West Los Angeles’ La Var Ball.

Ball was 12th in the state in scoring with a 22.5 per-game average and third in rebounding with at 12.4.

Smalls led Saddleback with 16.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.

The winner plays 13th-seeded Antelope Valley Wednesday in the second round.

There are 26 teams seeded in both the Southern and Northern sections; the final four from each division meet at Loyola Marymount University March 12-14 in the state finals.

In other first-round games involving Orange County teams: No. 11 Cypress (17-14) plays host to No. 22 San Bernardino Valley (21-8); No. 12 Orange Coast (22-9) plays host to No. 21 College of the Canyons (17-14) and No. 19 Fullerton (17-14) travels to No. 14 Mt. San Jacinto (21-8).

Rancho Santiago (25-4), which is the second-seeded team and gets a first-round bye, plays the winner of Long Beach City (16-14) at Bakersfield (17-14) Wednesday in the second round at Rancho Santiago.