The No. 8-seeded Monte Vista Christian Mustangs will play the top-seeded Menlo Knights in the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs after beating No. 9 Santa Cruz, 51-33, on Thursday night in Watsonville.
MVC (18-7), the second-place finisher in the Monterey Bay League Gabilan division, will travel to Notre Dame-Belmont on Saturday to play Menlo (14-10) at 12:30 p.m.
Over the last four years, Menlo has won three CCS championships, including the Open Division title in 2013.
The Mustangs, winners of their last four games, are looking for their first section title since 1994.
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BOY’S CCS D-III
• Saratoga 83, Pajaro Valley 51
Pajaro Valley’s impressive comeback season ended with an 83-51 loss to No. 5 Saratoga on Thursday night in the second round of the CCS D-III playoffs.
After notching just three wins over three years leading up to this season, the Grizzlies bounced back to finish with a 17-9 record — the program’s second highest win total. Pajaro Valley also finished second in the MBL Pacific division and won its first playoff game since 2009, beating No. 12 Soledad on Tuesday night.
The Grizzlies will graduate seven: Raymond Escobar, Melvin Tangonan, Willie Arroyo, Julian Arispe, Jonathan Chavez, Victor Hernandez and David Varges.
• Gunderson 83, North Monterey County 68
Abraham Calderon had 20 points and Jeremy Heitzman added 19 but it wasn’t enough for the No. 9-seeded North Monterey County Condors to pull the upset of No. 8 seed Gunderson on Thursday night in the second round of the CCS Division III playoffs, falling 83-68 in San Jose.
NMC finishes the season at 13-12 and will graduate nine players: Joseph Barrios, Anthony Flores, Steven Flores, Andrew Torres, Evan Perry, Josh Reed, Emil Soensteby, Calderon and Heitzman.
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UPDATED CCS SCHEDULE
Boys
Saturday
>> Division III: No. 4 Aptos vs No. 5 Saratoga (at St. Ignatius), 1 p.m.
>> Division IV: No. 4 Monte Vista Christian vs No. 5 Santa Cruz (at Hartnell College), 2:45 p.m.
>> Division V: No. 1 St. Francis vs No. 8 Nueva (at St. Francis), 2:45 p.m.
Girls
Saturday
>> Division III: No. 5 Aptos vs No. 4 Mills (at Mills), 4:30 p.m.
>> Division IV: No. 8 Monte Vista Christian vs No. 1 Menlo (at Notre Dame-Belmont), 12:30 p.m.
>> Division V: No. 2 St. Francis vs No. 7 Jewish Community (at Alma Heights Christian), 8 p.m.
