Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Round 1 of “Trinity Battles” go to Mater Dei, SJB and Santa Margarita

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SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA – The Mater Dei boys’ basketball program took another step Wednesday night toward going 10 for 10 in CIF Southern Section Open Division playoff slots.

While knocking off host JSerra, 66-52, in one of three Trinity League openers played on the evening, Coach Gary McKnight’s Monarchs also took their first step toward another league title.

And, in the process, senior post Zack Davidson demonstrated someone else is going to have to have a sensational league season to dethrone him as the Trinity League Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-8 Davidson (pictured), who signed a National Letter of Intent with the University of Montana in November, checked in with game-highs of 25 points and 11 rebounds as the Monarchs, No. 6 in the latest BurlisonOnBasketball Southern California ratings, improved to 13-2 overall while never having lost to a JSerra varsity squad.

The Monarchs play host to another Trinity League challenger Friday night when the St. John Bosco Braves (15-3 overall after their 88-44 win over Servite in Anaheim Wednesday) visit Santa Ana.

The Lions, who dropped to 13-4 with their loss to Mater Dei, travel 12 miles or so northeast to Rancho Santa Margarita for a Friday night Trinity clash at Santa Margarita (17-3 after its 65-53 Wednesday night win at Orange Lutheran).

Coach Keith Wilkinson’s JSerra squad was up at intermission, 31-28, largely because of the production of its two-best players, juniors Aidan Fowler and Sebastian Rancik, who combined for 17 points.

The Monarchs hit just eight of 21 shots from the field over the first 16 minutes but stayed within three points while converting 11 of 12 free throws.

The fouls kept coming fast and furious for JSerra – no editorial judgement offered – in the third quarter, as the Monarchs went to the line 13 times.

Che Brogan (with Brannon Martinsen and Luke Barnett, one of the three members of the Monarchs’ superb Class of 2026) combined with Zack Davidson to score 15 of Mater Dei’s 19 third-quarter points – nine of those at the free-throw line.

Brogan (the son of Mater Dei assistant coach Tom Lewis) hit two free throws with a little more than two minutes to go in the quarter to put the Monarchs up to stay.

The 6-9 Rancik, a 16-year-old who started for Slovakian squad in the 18U European Championships last summer, was called for charging late in the third quarter – which ended with his team down by four points.

He was hit with another charging call early in the fourth quarter – and the fouled out (finishing with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists) when he was called for hooking Brogan on a drive with 5:31 to go.

The Monarchs have an exceptional stable of deep jump shooters (notably, Barnett, sophomore Owen Verna and junior Scotty Belnap).

But they were just two of 13 from behind the arc Wednesday night (junior point guard Brady Karich and Davidson’s sophomore brother, Blake, hitting them).

But the ability of the front-court players to gain quality position for high-percentage shots, or to get open off player/ball movement or short drives – and, yes, score or draw fouls – was the difference against the Lions and the No. 1 thing the Monarchs’ opponents will have to game-plan for this season.

The 6-5 Brogan (14 points, including 10 of 12 free throws, six rebounds and three steals), Blake Davidson (10 points and seven rebounds) and Martinson (seven points and two rebounds) combined with the elder Davidson all of 10 of the Monarchs’ points – 30 of which (in 35 attempts) came on free throws.

The 5-10 Fowler led the Lions – who were just five of eight on free throws – with 19 points, only two of which came in the third quarter when the Monarchs outscored them by seven.

As for the Trinity and how it stacks up to the other half of the “clear-cut, two-best basketball leagues in Southern California”, its six programs were a combined 74-19 prior to the start of league competition this week.

The other “power league”, the Mission, had a combined 106-34 mark among its eight programs (Harvard-Westlake, Sierra Canyon, Notre Dame, St. Francis, Crespi, Crespi, Alemany and Loyola).

The leagues combine for seven of the first 13 spots in the latest BurlisonOnBasketball Top 20 and there was no “Trinity vs. Mission matchups” in November and December.

Al of which means . . . we will revisit the “which is/was better?” topic after the season.

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