Top CIF high school basketball leagues will crown champions in last week of season

The CIF Southern Section will conclude its high school basketball regular season on Wednesday. The next three days will reveal league champions in major matchups.

Campbell Hall's Isaiah Johnson handling the ball against Brentwood on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025 at the Intuit Dome. / Greg Fiore

The CIF Southern Section high school basketball regular season will end Wednesday.

The section's best boys basketball leagues will host games in the final three days that will crown a league champion. Some teams can earn an outright league title. Others are vying for a share of a league crown — some need other teams to win/lose to keep their league title hopes alive.

On top of games that have league champion ramifications, there are a number of games that will determine the final placement of teams in their respective league, which impacts a team's fate in the playoffs.

Teams that finish in the top 50% of their league will earn an automatic playoff berth.
For example, a 5 or 6-team league has three automatic playoff berths. Leagues with 7 or 8 teams, have four automatic qualifying spots.

Here are the top games and scenarios that are set to play out before the Southern Section office reveals the playoff pairings on Saturday (Feb. 8) at noon.

TRINITY LEAGUE (standings)

St. John Bosco (7-2) just needs to defeat JSerra (6-3) on Tuesday night in a season finale to earn a Trinity League title. However, if Santa Margarita (6-2) defeats Mater Dei (5-3) Monday night and Servite Tuesday night, the Eagles will earn a share of the league championship with Bosco. Both will finish with 8-2 records in league play.

If Santa Margarita loses one of those two games. St. John Bosco will be the outright league champion with a victory over JSerra Tuesday.

If St. John Bosco loses Tuesday night to JSerra and Santa Margarita beats Mater Dei and Servite this week, SM will be outright league champions.

GOLD COAST LEAGUE (standings)

Brentwood, which sits alone at 6-1 atop the Gold Coast League, has one game left on its schedule against Windward Monday night. A victory locks up an outright league title, but a loss allows for Windward (4-2) and Campbell Hall (4-2) play for a share of the league championship.

If Windward and Campbell Hall (plays Viewpoint) win Monday night, it will create a showdown between the two Wednesday night. Winner earns a share of the Gold Coast League crown.

MISSION LEAGUE (standings)

Not too much drama in the Mission League. But some could come this week in the end-of-year, culminating tournament to determine the league champion. Here's the schedule for the tournament:

QUARTERFINALS: Alemany at Crespi, Chaminade at Notre Dame (Monday)
SEMIS: Alemany-Crespi winner at Harvard-Westlake, Chaminade-ND winner at Sierra Canyon (Tuesday)
FINAL: at highest seed remaining, Wednesday night, 7 p.m.

Last year's Mission League tournament had a major surprise in it when Crespi knocked off Sierra Canyon on the road to reach the final thanks to a buzzer beater from Joe Sterling.

BAY LEAGUE (standings)

The Bay League is cut and dry. Redondo Union's season finale at home against Mira Costa (6-1) is for all the marbles. Redondo Union already beat MC 76-64 on Jan. 17, but if MC can win Tuesday night, the Mustangs will earn a share of the league title.

A Redondo Union (7-0) victory will earn the Sea Hawks an outright league title.

CRESTVIEW LEAGUE (standings)

Crean Lutheran has the league title wrapped up, but the drama lies in the pursuit for an automatic playoff berth out of the five-team league. Three automatic qualifiers are available.

Anaheim/Canyon (4-3) plays Crean Lutheran (6-1) Tuesday night. Cypress (3-4) plays Foothill (1-6). La Habra (4-4) has no more games on the schedule and will watch it all unfold.

If there's a three-way tie for second place. There's a coinflip for second place and the two remaining teams will compete in a playoff game for final spot.

BASELINE LEAGUE (standings)

It's another cut-and-dry scenario. Rancho Cucamonga (6-0) will take on Etiwanda (5-1) Wednesday night in a game that will decide if RC is an outright league champion or have to share it with Etiwanda (if the Eagles can earn a victory).

PACIFIC LEAGUE (standings)

Crescenta Valley is 6-0 and Arcadia sits at 5-1. CV will host Arcadia Tuesday night in a season finale that can result in an outright title for the Falcons with a win. If Arcadia wins, it will earn a share of the league crown.

GATEWAY LEAGUE (standings)

La Mirada (6-0) will take on Mayfair (7-1) on Wednesday in what will likely be a showdown for the league title. If La Mirada defeats Gahr Monday and Mayfair Wednesday, the Matadores will be outright league champions.

A Mayfair victory over La Mirada would earn the Monsoons a share of the league championship. La Mirada defeated Mayfair 89-52 on Jan. 17.

---

Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school sports news.

To get live updates on your phone - as well as follow your favorite teams and top games - you can download the SBLive Sports app:

Download iPhone App | Download Android App