The Foothill and Marina boys basketball teams have much in common as they prepare to play each other Tuesday night in the CIF Southern Section boys basketball playoffs.
Neither has a night-in, night-out individual standout. In most games, they usually three or so players score between 12 and 16 points.
The Foothill and Marina schedules are similar, too. Both teams beat Aliso Niguel, Capistrano Valley and Mission Viejo. Both lost to Edison by 10 points.
Marina lost to Canyon. Foothill played Canyon twice in Crestview League games, wining one time and losing the other.
Marina lost to JSerra by one point, in the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei. Foothill beat JSerra by five points in the Beach Bash tournament at Corona del Mar.
Foothill (25-2) plays at Marina (19-9) on Tuesday in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs. Foothill was seeded fourth in the division. Foothill advanced to the second round with a 64-41 win over Palm Springs in the first round. Marina defeated Trabuco Hills in the first round.
“We both have pretty good small guards,” Marina coach Nick Racklin said. “Foothill has a 6-7 guy (Mikey Mazurie) that we don’t have, but we’ve been playing against that (taller players) all year.”
The corps of Marina “small” guards inclues 6-0 seniors Eric Hodgkins and Kylle Magdangal. Foothill’s group includes 5-8 senior Cruz Billings and 5-10 senior Jacob Horton.
Other Orange County teams with second-round games Tuesday in Division 2AA: top-seeded Capistrano Valley Christian (19-7) at Crespi (16-8); Cypress (16-12) is home against third-seeded Village Christian (23-4); and second-seeded Canyon (24-4) is at ML King (21-7).
All games Tuesday are at 7 p.m. unless the participating teams agree to a time change and the time change is approved by the CIF-SS office. Spectators are required to wear masks inside gyms.
The eight-team Open Division continues with pool play Tuesday. Crean Lutheran (22-4), which lost at home to Damien on Friday, is home Tuesday against Bishop Montgomery (18-3). Mater Dei (25-3), which lost at Harvard-Westlake on Friday, is at Sierra Canyon (23-3) on Tuesday.
In Division 2A games Tuesday night: top seeded San Juan Hills (23-4) is home against Aquinas (19-8), second-seeded Edison (24-4) is home against Elsinore (19-3) and third-seeded Tesoro (22-5) is home against La Mirada (14-13). El Dorado (20-9) is home against fourth-seeded Crescenta Valley (18-3).
In Division 4AA, University, which upset second-seeded San Marino 85-80 in the first round, plays at home Tuesday against Santa Fe (12-15).