TORRANCE – The Mater Dei High boys’ basketball team didn’t venture to Cal Baptist University in Riverside as a participant in either of the CIF Southern Section’s Open or Division I title games contested there last Saturday.
But it’s doubtful that – with, of course, the exception of Open champion Sierra Canyon, which prevailed over Gary McKnight’s crew in the Feb. 8 playoff opener – it’s doubtful that anyone is any hotter right now in the State Southern Regional playoffs than are the Monarchs.
That certainly appeared the case Wednesday night in the El Camino Community College gym, where the Monarchs got a collective five 3s from three players in the first quarter to spark a surprisingly one-sided victory over No. 3 seed and host Bishop Montgomery, 68-53, in front of an estimated 2,500.
It was their third victory in four post-season games.
They began Southern Section Open action on Feb. 8 with a 71-61 loss at Sierra Canyon but closed with Pool B road victories by margins of 11 and 12 points against Corona Centennial and Trinity League rival St. John Bosco.
And those 12 days off – during which Sierra Canyon toppled Bishop Montgomery in the Feb. 23 championship game – didn’t hamper the Monarchs’ on-court progress at all.
No. 7 seed Centennial’s 76-75 at No. 2 Fairfax Wednesday means the No. 6 Monarchs will play host to Centennial Saturday evening for their first post-season home game.
In the other semifinal, L.A. City runner-up Westchester upset Rancho Christian (74-57) and travels Saturday to regional top seed Sierra Canyon (which treated San Diego Torrey Pines with even more harshness than had been anticipated, 82-38).
The Southern Region Open title game is scheduled for March 5 with the highest seed getting to host and the state championship contest four nights later in Sacramento.
With junior jump-shooting specialist Ryan Evans sidelined while recovering from a bout with mononucleosis, Mater Dei’s backcourt duties were left for sophomore Devin Askew and junior Aidan Prukop combined for 28 points and six of the team’s eight first-half 3s while holding the front end of a 37-27 score at intermission.
A 3 from the left corner off a pass from Askew pushed the advantage to 16 points and the Knights (24-7) were never closer than within nine points the rest of the way.
Askew – looking like a clear choice as SoCal’s “Top sophomore for the 2018-19 season” finished with 23 points and nine assists while Prukop added 18 points while also doing a nifty job, defensively, in impeding the success of Oregon State-bound Knights’ guard Gianni Hunt.
Sophomore forward Nick Davidson added 12 points while grabbing six rebounds.
Seniors Josh Vazquez and Will Crawford, as well as junior Isaiah Johnson scored 12 points for the Knights.
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