Holy Coastal Madness, Batman! Western, Coastal League titles up for grabs tonight

The championship races in two of San Diego's premier boys basketball leagues will become a lot clearer by the end of the night.

For all intents and purposes, the winners of tonight's games between St. Augustine and Cathedral Catholic and La Jolla Country Day and Santa Fe Christian will determine which teams have a clear path to the Western and Coastal league crowns, respectively.

First, the 6 p.m. Coastal showdown between the Eagles (19-5, 4-1) and Torreys (14-10, 4-1) will give the winner a game lead on the loser and Francis Parker, who gave the Eagles their first league loss earlier this week. Santa Fe Christian has beaten the Torreys twice this season by a combined 3 points, but only one of those games counts towards the league standings.

If the Torreys win tonight, they would control their destiny in the league race with two home games remaining on their slate: Monday vs Maranatha Christian and Feb. 14 against Parker.

If Santa Fe Christian wins, they will effectively eliminate La Jolla Country Day from the title race and would win the league title outright if they sweep Bishop's and Maranatha Christian next week.

In the Western League, however, the picture is much clearer heading into round two of the Holy War between the Saints and Dons at 7:30 p.m. at St. Augustine.

For St. Augustine (11-14, 5-0), a win guarantees them the league title outright, as even if they dropped the final two games they would hold the tiebreaker with Cathedral (16-8, 4-1) and would clear Mission Bay by a game. It also is a must win to keep its Open Division hopes alive.

A Dons win would turn them into Mission Bay fans next week, when the Bucs host the Saints at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday. A Dons win tonight combined with a Saints loss next week would give them the title outright, dethroning the Saints for the first time since 2021, the last time the Dons won the Western.

Other games of note tonight:

Torrey Pines at El Camino, 7 p.m. - The Wildcats (13-11, 5-2) are surging, winners of three straight, and played the Falcons closer at home than anyone in the North County Coastal league not named Carlsbad. A win by the Falcons (20-5, 7-0) wraps up the league title.

Bishop's at Francis Parker, 7 p.m. - Must-win game for the Lancers (16-10, 4-2) on senior night if they want to keep their Coastal League title hopes alive. Bishop's (13-11, 1-5) just picked up its first league win over Maranatha Christian.

Monte Vista at Steele Canyon, 7 p.m. - A win by the host Cougars (14-9, 5-0) wraps up their fourth straight league title, second straight in the Grossmont Hills League.

Kearny at Crawford, 7:30 p.m. - The Colts (21-4, 7-0) wrap up the Central League title and a sweep of the second place Komets with the win. The Komets (18-7, 6-1) would draw even with the Colts with a win.

Escondido Charter at Foothills Christian (Bostonia Global High), 7 p.m. - Significant D4 seeding implications in this cross-league matchup between the White Tigers (11-14) and the Knights (16-9), one of the surprise stories of the section this year.

Classical Academy at Coastal Academy, 7 p.m - Underrated rivalry game with second place in the Sunset League (both trail Pacific Ridge by two games) at stake.