Kobe Paras, Phantoms meet Sea Hawks in 1st round playoffs

MANILA, Philippines -- Kobe Paras and the LA Cathedral Phantoms made it as the no. 9 seed in Southern California's Open Division playoffs. 

The Phantoms, who finished the regular season with 19-6 win-loss record, will meet no. 8 Redondo Union Sea Hawks on the road in the first round. 

The playoff match is scheduled on Thursday (Friday Manila time) at 7pm Los Angeles time in Redondo Union's high school gym. 

The Sea Hawks earned the eight spot after finishing with a 21-5 win-loss record. 

The Open Division gathers the best high school teams selected in the 11 divisions of the Southern section of California. 

The rest of the first round match-ups are no. 16 Riverside JW North at Bishop Montgomery; no. 12 Orange Lutheran at No. 5 La Verne Damien; no. 13 Alemany at No. 4 Corona Centennial; no. 14 Bellflower St. John Bosco at no. 3 Chatsworth Sierra Canyon; no. 11 Cantwell-Sacred Heart at no. 6 Etiwanda; no. 10 Chino Hills at no. 7 Long Beach Poly; no. 15 Price at no. 2 Mater Dei.

LA Cathedral coach Williams Middlebrooks will bank anew on his quartet of star point guard Milan Acquaah, Paras, big man Leandro Amador and sweet-shooting forward Lucas Siewert in their bid to move deeper in the playoffs. 

Acquaah is the team's leading scorer with 20.4 points average and boasts of an all-around game with 4.3 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 2.8 steals. Paras, meanwhile,  averaged 14.6 points including a single-high of 35 points in a loss to Cantwell-Sacred Heart. The 17-year old Filipino sensation is also norming 4.3 rebounds and 2.6 steals. 

Amador norms 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds while Siewert averages 9.3 points including a 34 percent clip from beyond the arc. 

Los Angeles Times high school beat reporter Eric Sondheimer believes that the Phantoms-Sea Hawks match-up is as close as it gets. He also pointed out Paras' big following could bode well for the Phantoms if they can take away Redondo's home court advantage. 

The No. 8 vs. No. 9 games are always the best, so Redondo-Cathedral is looking good.

— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) February 13, 2015

We'll see if the Filipino population is big in Redondo Beach to see if Cathedral can get a home-court advantage.

— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) February 13, 2015