SANTA ANA, Ca. – It was a game some might have deemed “ugly”, although that description wouldn’t have come from anyone with a Mater Dei High affiliation.
Coach Gary McKnight’s Monarchs, despite committing 18 turnovers while utilizing a backcourt stripped clean by 2020 graduation, punched out a 51-38 victory over the visiting Santa Margarita Eagles Friday night in a showdown of Trinity League unbeatens.
It was the first “real test” in the program’s pursuit of a 38th league championship in McKnight’s 38th season as the head of the powerhouse program that he has sculpted.
A key second Trinity confrontation comes Wednesday night, with the St. John Bosco Braves (11-1 overall and 3-1 in league after their home Trinity win against Orange Lutheran Friday night) visiting Santa Ana.
Mater Dei, No. 3 in the current BurlisonOnBasketball 21 for 2021 SoCal ratings, improved to 14-0 and 4-0 in league. The Monarchs take to Anaheim for a non-league tile with Orangewood Academy, led by one of Mater Dei’s most noteworthy hoops’ alumni, Tommy Lewis.
The Friday night game with the Eagles (No. 12 in the 21 for 2021, and 8-1 overall and 3-1 in league) had a first quarter that ended with the hosts up, 8-3.
Yep – 8-3.
In an eight-minute stretch featuring equally sound half-court defenses, the Monarchs – coming six turnovers in the quarter – produced all of their offense by way of a perfect performance at the free-throw line, with USC-bound Harrison Hornery hitting six of those attempts.
The Eagles hit just one of 14 shots from the field in the quarter, with senior Aldo Ruiz-Ortiz finally scoring for his team with a 3 with 51 seconds to go.
The Monarchs scored the first nine points of the second quarter before Santa Margarita scored again, and were up, 25-9, going into intermission.
Coach Justin Bell’s Eagles missed 20 for their first 21 shots – they didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half – before a couple of late layups by Luke Turner and another by Jake Blazona.
The Eagles, who missed at least a half-dozen point-blank attempts in the first half (a Mater Dei frontcourt that averages about 6-foot-9 may have had some impact on those misses), finally loosened up a bit on offense, getting to within nine points after three quarters.
Two free throws by Jake Heberle got the visitors to within 44-38 with 2:21 to go.
But a layup by Hornery, by way of a Nick Davidson (pictured) pass, and – following a Santa Margarita turnover – a Davidson “And 1!), pushed the Monarchs’ advantage back to 11 points.
And that was that.
McKnight’s “major college frontcourt” looked the part, once again, Friday night.
Hornery (14 points, including 8 of 8 on free throws, and eight rebounds), Wilhelm Breidenbach (the future Nebraska Cornhusker had nine points with eight rebounds and two blocks) and Davidson (he’s going to Nevada in Reno and had 19 and 10) combined for all but nine of their team’s points.
The Monarchs’ new starting backcourt, juniors Mason Ressler (a transfer from Orange Lutheran) and Gabriel Quiette (who played limited minutes in his first two seasons), scored four and five points, respectively.
The 6-7 Turner, a transfer from Rancho Christian, scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
The Monarchs’ most significant defensive accomplishment – besides limiting the Eagles to 38 points, of course – was in running Ruiz-Ortiz off the 3-point line and challenging him once he did catch it there.
He hit six 3s in the Eagles’ win over St. John Bosco a couple of weeks ago but converted just that solo 3 for his team’s only first-quarter points.
Leave a Reply