Johnson-led Monarchs roll to 17th win

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BELLFLOWER, Ca. – Until proven otherwise, the Mater Dei Monarchs remain – as usually the case – in the pole position for “best team in Southern California – and the rest of the state, too” honors.

And, after his performance while leading his team to an impressive Trinity League victory over the host St. John Bosco Braves, someone in Southern California is going to have to dazzle us to demonstrate that they are as good, much less better, than Mater Dei’s standout junior, Stanley Johnson.

I’ve been impressed with a lot of individual performances this season but none more so than the effort turned in by Johnson Wednesday night while helping Gary McKnight’s Monarchs improve to 17-0.

Johnson had five points, seven rebounds and an assist during a first quarter in which his team broke out to a 17-5 advantage in front of the elbow-to-elbow gathering shoe-horned into SJB’s 1,500-seat (give or take) facility.

The Braves (10-2) closed the quarter strongly to get to within 19-16 going into the second quarter and trailed by just a point a little more than three minutes before intermission.

The hosts trailed by just a point (27-26) with the momentum swung back in favor of the Monarchs. And the Braves were never able to seize it back.

Junior Daniel Hamilton was whistled for his second personal foul while trying to check Johnson tightly with 3:37. He and Johnson – who have often played for the same Belmont Shore travel squad in the spring and summer – apparently exchanged words and one of the officials ended the discussion with a double technical.

That meant than Hamilton – with the tech giving him a third foul – had to go to the bench for the rest of the half, which ended on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the right corner by reserve Chris Nealey padded the Monarchs’ advantage to eight points, at 38-30.

The Braves stayed reasonably close after intermission but could never get enough consecutive defensive stops to severely threaten the Monarchs. The Braves’ last gasp, while trailing 65-55, came when Hamilton’s senior brother (Isaac, who finished with a team-high 23 points) was whistled for a charge that negated a hoop that would have gotten them to within eight points with 3:58 to go.

And Johnson was just as strong over the final three quarters as he was in the opening stanza, finishing with 25 points (11 of 17 from the field, including a couple of 3s, and 1 of 2 from the free-throw line), 21 rebounds and four assists.

But as impressive as Johnson was – and has been all season, he tabbed the Most Valuable Player during championships of the Jerry Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas and Orange Holiday Classic at Chapman University – he was far from the only key performer for the Monarchs.

Senior wing Elijah Brown overcame a chilly shooting start – he missed seven of his first eight shots from the floor – to match Johnson with 25 points (six coming on six attempts from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

This may be one of the better perimeter-shooting clubs that McKnight has fielded during his 30 seasons as the program’s head coach.

Along with Johnson – who may have the best combination of power and skill of any perimeter player in the Southland since Paul Pierce was a senior at Inglewood High in 1994-95 – and Brown, the team also has solid jump shooting threats in senior point guard Jordan Strawberry, junior wing Mario Soto and reserves Nealey and James McGee.

And the cupboard isn’t bare in the post, either.

Mike Tisdale is the epitome of a “blue collar-type”, a strong defender and position rebounder who coverts a lot of dump-off passes from the likes of Strawberry and Johnson, while Michael Cage Jr. and Jayce Johnson are a couple of 6-8 freshmen who should be among the best big men to come out of the program.

The Braves will get another pop at the Monarchs when the teams hook up at Mater Dei on Jan. 30.

They’ll have to be a bit more patient on offense – and do a much better job of checking Johnson and not letting the other perimeter gentlemen get clean looks on jumper – if the outcome has any chance of being different the second time around.

On a night when Isaac Hamilton finished with 23 points and his brother added 14 – but just two free throws in the fourth quarter – the Braves got exactly 0 points from their bench.

Power forward Darien Williams added 14 points but 12 of those came on 3s. And guard Tyler Dorsey, who has been enjoying a marvelous sophomore season, missed seven of his first eight shots and scored just six points.

And the Braves don’t have a lot of time to spending second-guessing their performance of Wednesday night.

They’re at home for another Trinity League game Friday night (vs. Anaheim Servite) and, 24 hours later, play host to unbeaten Torrance Bishop Montgomery in a non-league game.

A couple of sons of former college standouts (sophomore Stephen Thompson Jr. and Pepperdine-bound Lamond Murray Jr.) lead the way for the 17-0 Knights. They play a Del Rey League game at Gardena Serra Friday.