LAS VEGAS – The Mater Dei High 3-pointers were raining fast and furious Tuesday afternoon in the Bishop Gorman High gymnasium.
And the Monarchs used that Owen Verna-led onslaught to overwhelm the defense of a tall and gifted Ft. Lauderdale Calvary Christian squad, 70-62, and move into Wednesday evening’s Platinum Division championship semifinals of the 11th Tarkanian Classic.
And they’ll face another of Southern California’s Southern Section Open Division playoff contenders at 4:30 when then take on a West Ranch team that improved to 10-zip after a “mild upset” of unbeaten Marietta (GA) Kell, 65-55.
The other Wednesday semi, set to tip at 6 o’clock, will pit the host Gaels (5-1 after their 79-70 win over unbeaten San Diego St. Augustin) take on Dallas Oak Cliff Faith Family (15-0 following its 76-68 decision against Cleveland St. Ignatius).
Coach Gary McKnight already was using one of his youngster-ever “player rotations” coming into Las Vegas.
And it got even younger when 6-foot-5 junior Scotty Belnap was sidelined – for at least a few weeks – with an ankle injury in the team’s opening, 58-55 win over Las Vegas Durango Monday in the Orleans Hotel Arena.
That meant the Monarchs’ starting lineup Tuesday afternoon was made up one of senior (Montana-bound Zack Davidson, who went for 14 points vs. Calvary Christian after a 28-point effort Monday), a junior point guard Brady Karich (superb in his floor management Tuesday), a sophomore guard (Verna) and two freshmen forwards (Che Brogan and Brannon Martinsen), with a freshman guard (Luke Barnett) and sophomore forward (Blake Davidson) as the top two subs.
And it proved not a case of “youth being served” but of the Monarchs’ youth “doing the serving” vs. the Florida squad.
With the Monarchs trailing, 11-10 (their points including a 3 by the 6-8 Martinsen and 6-3 Verna), Barnett came off the bench and showed why he may be the program’s best “pure” jump shooter, nailing three 3s from the right to force a timeout by Calvary Christian Coach Cilk (pronounced “Silk”) McSweeney.
His team did a much better job of shadowing Barnett before he caught the ball the rest of the way.
But it never got a beat on Verna (pictured), who spent a lot of the summer and fall hobbled by a sore right hip.
Afterward, he said he is now 100 percent “healthy”.
So that left him to inflict a lot of pain on the perimeter of the Eagles’ defense.
Uh, about my observation that Barnett may be McKnight’s best jump shooter?
Verna’s jumper would like a word . . .
He closed the first half with two more 3s (in four attempts) as he and his team took a 33-27 advantage into intermission.
Verna missed his first jumper in the second half . . . and didn’t miss again.
He knocked in five 3s the rest of the way – with an off-the-catch form never hindered by Calvary Christian closeouts – to finish with eight in route to a career-high 26 points.
McKnight subbed him out for good with 53 seconds remaining and the Monarchs up, 66-52, and Verna just one 3 short of the program’s single-game record, held by Clay McKnight (yep, the son of the man who built a high school dynasty over 41 years) and Katin Reinhardt.
Hey, not to worry: He’s got two-plus seasons and a lot more opportunities to jump (shoot) over that duo . . .
In the next quarterfinal, West Ranch got plenty of quality jump shooting of its own by way of nine 3’s, including three apiece by seniors Jazz Gardner and Jaqari Miles.
But it was the forceful efforts, in and around the lane, of the 7-foot Gardner and fellow seniors Andrew Meadow and Isaiah Fields, and junior James Evans III that provided the ability to neutralize – and, often, outplay – a frontcourt led by 7-footer, 320-pound (at least) junior Peyton Marshall and his 6-6 classmate and “vertical master” Cannon Richards.
Marshall – even vs. West Ranch’s zone and collapsing man-to-man defenses in which he was often tag-teamed by Gardner and at least one another defender – still finished with 17, 10 rebounds, two blocked shots and four damn-near rim-warping and backboard-smashing dunks.
And Richards (11 points and a couple of elbows-at-the-finishes) also showed off his quick bounce.
But West Ranch’s “bigs” kept their counterparts from having carte-blanche inside with Gardner (17 points and 12 rebounds), the Boise State-bound Meadow (19 points and eight rebounds), Fields (11 points and five rebounds) and Evans (five points on a 3 and monster lob finish and five rebounds) all on high-octane mode for 32 minutes.
Bishop Gorman built a quick double figure advantage on San Diego’s defending Open Division champion but trailed at intermission, 39-37, as St. Augustine never rattled after the slow start and despite a mega-jump shooting effort by the hosts’ junior John Mobley (22 points in the first half and 10 more after intermission).
The visiting Saints went up by a bucket a couple of times in the second behind terrific play by top-tier junior point guard LoLo Rudolph (nine points, 11 assists and three steals) and seniors Jaden Matingou (19 points) and Jurian Dixon (among the west’s best unsigned seniors, he had 17 (points and 12 rebounds).
But Mobley got plenty of support by way of sophomores Chris Nwuli (14 points and 10 rebounds) and Nick Jefferson (two huge 3s in the closing minutes) and the Gaels pulled away in the final two minutes.
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