SANTA ANA, Ca. – Four CIF Southern Section boys’ basketball teams collected important “Open Division-related” victories during Saturday’s second day of the 27th Mater Dei/Nike Extravaganza.
The Open Division’s defending champions – the Corona Centennial Huskies – wrapped up the nine-game slate on Saturday by rallying from a 12-point deficit in the first half and edging Henderson (NV) Coronado, 80-71.
The other victories that figure to makeup and/or seedings in the eight-team field that is unveiled on February 7 were:
*Studio City Harvard-Westlake (76-68 vs. another likely Open selection, Crean Lutheran);
*Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (70-63 over San Diego St. Augustine); and
*The host Monarchs (54-48 against Hacienda Heights Los Altos).
Coach Josh Giles’ Huskies improved to 24-1 despite having their biggest deficit of the season against a gifted but relatively under-achieving opponent (Coronado fell to 10-8 after the loss).
The Huskies (whose only loss came in Texas against Duncanville on Thanksgiving weekend) needed every bit of grit and spectacular they could get out of the trio of guards Donovan Dent (31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists) and Jared McCain (15 points and eight rebounds), as well as one of the west’s most underrated juniors, 6-foot-7 Aaron McBride (16 points, nine rebounds, three blocked shots and four steals) to pull it out against the Pop Pop Isaacs-led Cougars.
The 6-2 Isaacs, who signed with Texas Tech in November, scored a team-high 22 points including three 3s in the first quarter and three free throws with four seconds to go that send the contest into the four-minute overtime.
And Dent (pictured) continued to demonstrate why no player in California is having a more dominant senior season than he is.
Harvard-Westlake (20-2) held on in the final two minutes against an opponent playing without a starting guard (sophomore Darrell Morris, who was ejected the night before in a league victory at Tustin) the entire game, as junior forward Brady Dunlap jump shot well throughout – eight of 12 from the field, including four 3s – while scoring a game-high 20 points.
Sophomore guard Trent Perry, who didn’t start, and senior guard Cameron Thrower combined to hit 16 of 19 free throws.
UC Santa Barbara-bound forward Koat Keat had 17 points, 14 rebounds and six steals for the Saints (19-3) while sophomore guard Vyctorius Miller had 18 points, three assists and three steals despite missing nearly nine minutes with foul issues (he picked up his fifth and disqualifying personal with six minutes to go).
Notre Dame (19-4) wrapped up its regular season with the victory Coach Matt Sargeant’s crew needed to enhance its Open hopes.
Junior forward Dusty Stromer (20 points and eight rebounds) and senior guards Ben Shtolzberg (10 points, seven rebounds and five assists) and Luke Rishwain (18 points, including three 3ss) led the way for the Knights against the CIF San Diego Section’s top team.
Mater Dei – playing its fourth game in five nights – improved to 23-2, despite trailing by seven points in the second quarter, as senior forward Jack McCloskey scored 17 points while junior post Zack Davidson went for 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Junior center Jazz Gardner of Los Altos scored 17 points with 14 rebounds, two assists and two blocks but missed 10 of his 17 field-goal attempts and five of his six free throws.
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