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CIF Central Section 2024 boys basketball playoffs: Updated scores, matchups — St. Joseph powers past Clovis West in semis (2-20-2024)

Perhaps upset with its No. 3 seed, the defending Northern California Open Division champs take it to the Golden Eagles; Top seed Clovis North also moves into final

Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports

The Knights from St. Joseph in Santa Maria might have had a slight chip on their respective shoulders. 

Despite being the consensus top ranked teams in the Central Section and also being the defending Northern California Open Division champions, the Knights were seeded third in the Division 1 playoffs. 

The two teams before them were formidable — Clovis North and Clovis West — also state ranked squads. But the Knights showed another gear on Tuesday, posting an 88-73 win at second seed Clovis West in the semifinals. 

The Knights, who got 24 points and five assists fro sophomore Julius Price and 21 points and eight rebounds by junior Tounde Yessoufou, moved into Saturday's 8 p.m. championship game against Clovis North, a 74-50 winner over fifth-seed Clovis East. 

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St. Joseph (30-2), ranked eighth in the state by SBLive, takes on a Clovis North squad who improved to 26-6, at Selland Arena. 

Tytus Khajavi (19 points), DJ Stickman (14 points, six rebounds, five assists) and Jackson Young (14 points) led Clovis West (26-6), which will advance to the regional round next week.

Other semifinal winners on Tuesday were No. 1 Dinuba and No. 2 Mission College Prep (D2), No. 1 North and No. 2 Sierra (D3), No. 5 Kerman and No. 11 Corcoran (D4), No. 1 Coalinga and No. 2 Mendota (D5) and No. 5 Strathmore and No. 2 Caruthers in Division 6. 

The CIF-CS released its boys basketball playoff matchups on Feb. 10 and the championships along all six divisions conclude Feb. 23-24. 

Top seeds in each divisions are Clovis North (D1), Dinuba (D2), North (D3), Fresno Christian (D4), Coalinga (D5) and Firebaugh (D6).

Defending champions are: St. Joseph (D1), Arroyo Grande (D2), Kingsburg (D3), Tulare Western (D4), Madera South (D5) and Taft (D6).

Check the brackets below for the latest matchups, game times and scores:

2023 CIF CENTRAL SECTION BOYS BAKSETBALL BRACKETS

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Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports
MITCH STEPHENS, SBLIVE SPORTS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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