Prep talk: Open Division boys’ and girls’ basketball finals produce top matchups

It couldn’t have worked out any better for high school basketball fans in Southern California.

The Southern Section Open Division championships in boys’ and girls’ basketball will be played back to back on Saturday at Toyota Arena in Ontario with matchups that should be pleasing for fans.

First at 6:30 p.m. is the boys’ final matching Eastvale Roosevelt (31-2) and McDonald’s All-American Brayden Burries against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (26-6) and junior standout Tyran Stokes. At 8:30 p.m., Ontario Christian (28-1) and sophomore All-American Kaleena Smith face two-time defending state champion Etiwanda (25-4).

Both games are rematches. Roosevelt defeated Notre Dame 76-58 on Dec. 21 in Las Vegas. Ontario Christian defeated Etiwanda 74-66 on Nov. 23 at Harvard-Westlake. All four teams are stronger and better prepared with players who weren’t available for the first meeting.

The winners will be the likely No. 1 seeds for the Southern California Regional playoffs that begin next week.

At 4:30 p.m. is the Division 1 boys final matching Los Alamitos against Mira Costa. Here’s a report on that game.

Here’s the link to ticket information. …

The City Section will be hosting championship basketball and soccer matches on Saturday at Pasadena City College.

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