SANTA ANA, Ca. – The host Mater Dei Monarchs got into a 10-point hole late in the second quarter of their Trinity League showdown with the St. John Bosco Braves Wednesday night.
But their half-court defense tightened and, at the other end of the floor, the Braves never really got a handle on keeping the ball out of Harrison Hornery’s hands.
Led by the USC-bound Hornery’s 24 points (10 of those in the fourth quarter), the Monarchs improved to 16-0, overall, and 5-zip in league, with their 57-54 victory.
The 6-foot-10 is the finest jump shooting prep player at anywhere near his size in Southern California – and, likely, a whole lot of miles to the east and north of the region, too.
Coach Matt Dunn and his Braves’ players and staff knew that when they got off the bus in front of the Meruelo Athletic Center.
Heck . . . most of those watching the game live during the KDOC television broadcast were also quite aware of it.
But Hornery (pictured) kept finding open space against the Braves’ man-to-man and zone defenses – and his teammates kept putting passes into his hands.
Hornery hit three 3s in the first half and three more after intermission, two of those – along with four free throws – coming over the final eight minutes.
His fifth 3, set up by way of a pass from Wilhelm Breidenbach, put the Monarchs up to stay – at 44-43 – after junior forward Jeremiah Nyardo’s 3 gave the Braves a two-point advantage with 6:15 remaining.
The third senior starting in the frontcourt, Nick Davidson, hit one of two free throws after a SJB missed shot and, after another Braves’ miss, Hornery was fouled and knocked in the first two of his four free throws.
Senior guard Hunter Richardson scored on a nifty drive to get the visitors to within two points before the teams missed shots on four consecutive possessions.
After the Monarchs rebounded the last of those SJB misses in that sequence, they called a timeout with 2:38 remaining.
Sure enough, after the ball was inbounded, Hornery freed himself in the right corner and knocked in another 3.
Loyola Marymount-bound Lamaj Lewis – who scored a team-high 16 points (12 in the first half) – converted a difficult left-handed layup while being fouled by Breidenbach with 2:04 to go.
But he couldn’t convert the “And 1!”, leaving the Braves’ deficit at three points.
Deep into the shot clock at the other end, junior guard Gabriel Quiette cut along the baseline and got behind the Braves’ defense and Davidson rewarded him with a pass that he converted into a layup and five-point lead with 1:36 remaining.
Lewis, by way of two free throws, lopped off two points from that deficit before junior guard Mason Ressler dropped in his first points of the night – from the free-throw line.
A timeout set up Washington’s successful driving floater which was followed immediately by another timeout with 31 seconds to go and Mater Dei up three points.
The Braves fouled Ressler and he converted just the front end of a 1-and-1.
But, after clearing rebound on Ressler’s miss, they couldn’t capitalize as both Washington and Richardson missed shots, with the ball batted out of bounds and awarded to the Monarchs after the second miss.
The surest thing of the night – and pretty much any night – for the Monarchs is Hornery shooting without a hand bearing down on his face.
And they used that scenario once more, via two Hornery free throws, to go up by six points with 8.7 seconds remaining before Washington’s 3 at the buzzer locked in the final score.
The Monarchs, who only allowed just an average of 47.4 points in the first round of Trinity action, start the back half of league Friday night in the same building against JSerra.
The Braves, who fell to 12-2 and 3-2, are in Bellflower Friday night for a Trinity rematch with Santa Margarita.
The Eagles edged the Braves in overtime when the teams hooked in up Rancho Santa Margarita on April 21.
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