ESPN

1. The CIF basketball playoffs don’t start for another week, but some of the top teams in the Southern Section and City Section got a taste of the postseason in the Nike Extravaganza at Meter Dei High School and at the Alemany Showcase this weekend. Alemany played Price in a matchup of top-20 teams in the ESPN Los Angeles rankings. Alemany won, 82-76, and Warriors coach Tray Meeks said it was important for his players to compete against an unfamiliar opponent. The Mission League has quality programs in Crespi, Harvard-Westlake and Loyola, but facing a team as talented as Price is good preparation for playoffs, Meeks said. “No disrespect to Price, but this is not a different level,” he said. “The Mission League is ranked No. 1 in the state for a reason. That’s because it’s tough night in, night out. This is just another tough game. It’s different because we don’t know one another. For the Mission League, it’s different because we all know one another. That’s where the Mission League is different. We all know one another, whereas we get a Price, we’re adjusting throughout the game, and that makes it a tough challenge. That makes it more like a playoff game.” Alemany point guard Max Guercy rallied his team in the second half. He hit three 3-pointers in the span of two minutes and helped Alemany erase a nine-point deficit. His first 3-pointer beat the buzzer to end the third quarter. In the first half, Price bottled up Guercy and held him to six points. “They were trying to get the ball out of his hands,” Meeks said. “They were doing a good job of doing that. He just adjusted and that three got him going." Alemany leads the Mission League standings with a 9-1 record. The Warriors have two more league games, beginning tonight against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. Loyola is in second place in the Mission League with an 8-3 record. The Cubs have one more league game, on Wednesday against St. Francis.
2. Woodland Hills Taft made a playoff statement with a 73-57 win over Loyola in the Nike Extravaganza in another matchup of top-20 teams in the ESPN LA rankings. Anthony January, who had to wait until December to play for Taft after transferring from Compton, scored 26 points and has been integral in Taft’s 12-game winning streak. Brandon Perry scored 13 points for Taft, but it was his defense against high-scoring Julian Harrell, who is averaging a team-high 16 points, that stood out. He held Harrell to 10 points. Taft wraps up its West Valley League schedule this week against Birmingham and Chatsworth and will wait to see where it is seeded in the City Section Division I playoffs.

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WOODLAND HILLS – The smiles are coming a little easier for the players on the El Camino Real boys soccer team. The celebrations are a little more joyous. The wins are not as important and the time together on the field is all the more precious.

The memory of Francisco Rodriguez Jr., the El Camino Real goalie who was shot and killed in front of his house after a game against Taft on Jan. 11, still weighs heavy on the players.

Before El Camino Real’s game against Chatsworth on Monday night, the first home game since Rodriguez was killed, there was a 26-second moment of silence. Rodriguez wore No. 26 when he was on the El Camino Real soccer team.

The goal was empty before the start of the game, the same tribute paid to Rodriguez in the first game El Camino Real played at Cleveland of Reseda after his death.

After the kickoff, goaltender Randdi Misrahi ran onto the field and took his position. Once the game was under way, El Camino Real put on an offensive display scoring three goals in the second half in a 5-0 shutout over Chatsworth.

Lucas Ladek scored the first goal for El Camino Real (11-4-4) in the fifth minute. Erickson Penate put El Camino Real up 2-0 with a goal in the 17^th minute.

The Conquistadors went into halftime with a 2-0 lead. Misrahi was barely tested in goal in the first half by Chatsworth. Once the second half started, El Camino applied more pressure, but didn’t score again until the 62^nd minute.

Kayvon Parsa and Latif Al-kassir scored within three minutes of each other and gave El Camino Real a 4-0 lead. Mark Gomez knocked in the final goal for El Camino Real rebounding a shot that went off the goal post in the 73^rd minute.

It was the 10^th shutout of the season for El Camino Real. Misrahi has recorded two shutouts in the three games since the death of Rodriguez.

The game between El Camino Real and Chatsworth was originally scheduled for Friday, but was rescheduled because of the funeral for Rodriguez.

El Camino Real is 2-0-2 in its past four games and hasn’t lost since Jan. 5, 1-0, to Mililani in the Hawaii Invitational.

Chatsworth (0-5-3) lost its fourth game in a row.