RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Ca. – The Mater Dei High Ivy League basketball duo aced its Trinity League test Wednesday night.
Point guard Spencer Freedman (bound for Harvard) scored a game-high 20 points, on seven of nine shooting from the field, to go with eight assists, six rebounds and three steals as the Monarchs turned in a near-impeccable performance at both ends of the floor while knocking off the host Santa Margarita Eagles, 67-49.
And teammate Michael Wang (a future University of Pennsylvania Quaker) chipped in with 17 points and four rebounds, 12 of those points coming by way of 3-pointers set up by Freedman dishes.
The Monarchs improved to 14-6 overall and 5-1 in Trinity play, moving them closer to making it 5 for 5 in CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff appearances.
And, coupled with St. John Bosco’s upset loss at home to Orange Lutheran Wednesday, it moved Coach Gary McKnight’s crew into first place by itself, one game ahead of St. John Bosco (4-2) and two in front of Santa Margarita (3-3) in the Trinity standings.
All things considered, a casual observer suggested it was the Monarchs’ highest quality 32 minutes of play this season.
And an impassioned observer agreed with that assessment.
“It was definitely our best effort of the season,” Freedman said after knocking in four of his squad’s dozen 3-pointers and taking another step in strengthening the likelihood of his landing a second consecutive Trinity League Player of the Year honor and all-Open Division selection.
“It’s the first time we’ve been completely healthy all season.”
With all of the program’s extensive travel out of the way after trips to Florida, Oregon, West Virginia and Massachusetts over the past six or so weeks, the Monarchs have been able to settle into a consistence practice routine in their on-campus Meruelo Center.
“That was a huge part of it (the solid demonstration of focus and execution on both ends of the floor Wednesday night),” Freedman added.
“We came into the season not worrying so much about how well we played in December and January but in focusing on playing our best basketball into February and March.”
The Monarchs trailed Santa Margarita (15-6 overall) by five points with about six minutes to go before pulling away after Jake Kyman fouled out for the Eagles and prevailing, 68-55, when the teams opened Trinity play at Mater Dei on Jan. 4.
But they were in nothing approaching a precarious situation Wednesday night, never leading by fewer than seven points (at 51-44, after two Kyman free throws with 4:57 to go) following the first quarter.
Santa Margarita’s four top scorers, Kyman, fellow junior Max Agbonkpolo, sophomore Ryan Evans and senior Jordan Guest, missed a combined 29 of 39 field-goal attempts with Kyman getting a team-high 17 points (eight of those in the fourth quarter) despite missing 11 of his 17 shots from the field.
Assistant coaches from Pacific 12 Conference programs UCLA (Tyus Edney), Colorado (Billy Grier) and Oregon State (Gregg Gottlieb) were in attendance and, no doubt, had to come away at least mildly impressed by Santa Margarita’s junior center Shenghze Li, who is improving rapidly after becoming eligible on Jan. 2.
The 6-foot-10, 250-pound Li scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds – 10 and seven of those, respectively, coming in the first half – while showing off much more fluidity of movement while tempering the aggressiveness that led him to fouling out in his first two games for the Eagles this month.
The teams are back in Trinity League play Friday night, the Eagles playing host to Servite and the Monarchs entertaining St. John Bosco – the program that snapped its 69-game league winning streak two weeks ago in Bellflower.
Hey Mr. Burlison I think you left out JSerra who are the under dogs in the trinity league conference as well, they also upset Bosco handed them there first loss of the season and not to mention has a record of 4-2 which puts them in second place along with Bosco. Gotta love being the under dog because no one sees you coming or expects much form you.
Thanks for taking the time Frank Burlison.
“ St. John Bosco’s upset loss at home to Orange Lutheran Wednesday, it moved Coach Gary McKnight’s crew into first place by itself, one game ahead of St. John Bosco (4-2) and two in front of Santa Margarita (3-3) in the Trinity standings.”