SOLANA BEACH — Three years in a row, the Cathedral Catholic High School boys basketball team has run into a Hall in the playoffs.
The last two seasons, Carlsbad and Jake Hall knocked the Dons out of the Open Division playoffs.
Friday night before a standing-room-only crowd at SFC’s intimate gym, Dax Hall — Jake’s brother — torched Cathedral Catholic for 35 points as SFC ran away with an 82-53 Open Division quarterfinal win.
The Eagles (26-3) advance to Wednesday’s semifinal, hosting Francis Parker, which beat Mission Bay. Cathedral Catholic falls to 19-10. All eight Open Division teams advance to the Southern California Regionals, so the season isn’t over for the Dons.
“It’s not about who we play, but how we play,” said Hall, who now has 1,906 career points.
“Cathedral Catholic is a good team, but we had a great week of practice. We’re so confident.”
SFC beat Cathedral Catholic 85-61 on Dec. 23 on Tipoff Night of the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic, with Hall scoring 42 points.
Chase Othick backed Hall with 14 points and six rebounds. Hall finished with seven rebounds and three steals.
Jaden Hitipeuw battled Cathedral Catholic’s bigs and finished with 13 points, three rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
“This is such an unselfish team,” Hitipeuw said. “When you play this way … well, you can see the result.”
Santa Fe Christian’s Dax Hall (1) celebrates after a three-pointer against Cathedral Catholic during the CIF San Diego Section Open Division boys basketball quarterfinal game at Santa Fe Christian School on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026 in Solana Beach, California. (Meg McLaughlin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
SFC made 12 3-pointers in the game and had just four turnovers. Cathedral Catholic committed 12 turnovers.
Charlie Barajas led the Dons with 17 points and nine rebounds. Tyler Vosburgh and Seimer Roberson both finished with 10, with Roberson taking a bad fall late in the game.
SFC led 25-13 at the end of the first quarter, connecting on five 3-pointers.
Cathedral Catholic cut the deficit to five, scoring the first seven points of the second quarter as SFC went cold.
But the Eagles finished the half on a 10-0 run and led 40-25 at the break with Brett Vermillion nailing a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer.
SFC pushed the advantage to 19 and led 58-43 going into the final eight minutes.
Cathedral Catholic was playing without injured point guard Anthony Ali Nayab and guard Max Meza, who left the team.