SANTA ANA – Saturday’s nine-game, second day of the XXIX Nike Extravaganza, hosted by Mater Dei High and its basketball program, closed with five contests involving teams that could be in the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division playoff field a week from now.
And none of them was played with the competitiveness nor closed with the drama on showcase during Mater Dei’s clash with Los Alamitos – pulled out by the slimmest of margins and as late as possible, 66-65, via a buzzer-beating 3-point jumper by sophomore guard Luke Barnett.
The visiting Griffins (21-5), by way of their sizzling ball movement and jump shooting and mix of pressure defensive looks, led through much of the first half – including 40-28 at intermission.
The host Monarchs (24-2), behind the inside play of sophomore Brannon Martinson (23 points and eight rebounds) and junior Blake Davidson (12 points and 15 rebounds), were in front by as many as eight points late in the third quarter.
But the Griffins, who got all their points from the four juniors (Liam Gray, Wesley Trevino, Samori Guyness and Trent Minter) in their starting lineup, didn’t fold.
Minter’s 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:41 to go put the Griffins back up, 62-61, before the Monarchs turned the ball over and the Griffins missed a jumper.
Davidson’s layup (after rebounding an Owen Verna miss) with 23 seconds remaining gave the lead back to the Monarchs but the Griffins countered rapidly, with Gray – who scored a team-high 21 points with five assists – finishing on a nifty spinning layup with his off (left) hand.
At the other end, Mater Dei missed on a drive and was called for a loose ball foul with 7.2 seconds, sending Trevino to the free-throw line – and the large contingent of Los Alamitos rooters in the building into a frenzy.
He swished the first half and Mater Dei called a timeout before he could attempt the second.
When play resumed, the Monarchs had replaced Davidson with Barnett – and, yeah, that proved a prudent move by Gary McKnight and his Mater Dei coaching staff.
Verna rebounded Trevino’s missed second attempt, passed quickly to Scotty Belnap on the left side who immediately fired a cross-court pass to a wide-open Barnett on the right side.
Bingo.
In the final game of the night, Roosevelt of Eastvale improved to 24-2 by smacking Coronado of Henderson (NV), 75-51.
The Mustangs – in front by 32 points when Coach Steve Singleton removed all his starters with 3:39 to go – got game highs of 28 points (11 of 20 from the floor), 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals from junior Brayden Burries.
The Mustangs pressured the Cougars into 20 turnovers and 16 of 42 shooting from the field (including zip of 12 on 3s).
Senior Darnez Slater (26 points/eight of 14 from the field) and junior Issac Williamson (12 points and four steals) also scored in double figures for the Mustangs while junior forward Lantz Stephenson led the Cougars (15-10) with 21 points and seven rebounds.
Immediately prior to the Los Alamitos-Mater Dei game, another Nevada-based program – Las Vegas Bishop Gorman – trailed Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks by 15 points heading into the fourth quarter . . . then overwhelmed the Knights over the final eight minutes by 26 points to prevail, 64-53.
The Knights (24-2), who suffered another fourth quarter typhon in falling at Sierra Canyon in a Mission League showdown, 81-75, played without standouts Mercy Miller and Lino Mark for what was likely a cautionary approach to what were possibly minor aches and pains.
Freshman Ilan Nikolov (18), sophomore Jett Washington (16) and junior Nick Jefferson (14) combined for 48 points for the Gaels (18-4) while sophomore forward Zachary White led the Knights with 28 points and eight rebounds.
Harvard-Westlake – likely to be playing at Notre Dame Wednesday night in a Mission tournament semifinal – used a potent second half to pull away from Foothill of Santa Ana, 74-54.
The Wolverines (23-3) out-rebounded the 18-8 Knights, 39-19, and got double-figure scoring from four players with USC-bound senior Trent Perry (17 points, seven rebounds and five assists) and junior Nikolas Khamenia (16 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals) leading them.
One of the most multi-skilled senior in Orange County, Isaiah Bernard-Lopez, led the Knights with 12 points (including two 3s) and five rebounds.
And JSerra (22-4) capped a productive week by holding off San Diego power St. Augustine, 54-48.
Seniors Aidan Fowler and Sebastian Rancik scored 18 and 14 points, respectively, while freshman forward G.C. Eboigbodin grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Lions (who scored their first-ever varsity victory against Mater Dei Wednesday night).
Sophomore guard Jaden Bailes scored 17 points for the Saints (21-4), who nine-game winning streak was snapped.
In the first four games played Saturday:
*Modesto Christian 88, Lynwood 78: A Nike X individual single-game scoring performance – 44 points – by sophomore guard Jason Crowe Jr. wasn’t enough to counter the offensive productivity of the team from Northern California.
Crow scored 28 of his points after intermission and finished 16 of 36 from the field (missing six of seven from behind the arc) while hitting 11 of 13 free throws. Classmates Chace Holley and Jahaz Wright added 17 and 13, respectively, as their team dropped to 17-9.
Four players scored in double figures for the 19-3 Crusaders, led by the 25 points apiece of senior Marcus Washington and junior Gavin Sykes, both of which also grabbed 11 rebounds.
*Mira Costa 63, Orange Lutheran 54: The Mustangs outscored the Lancers by 12 points in the fourth quarter to break open a tight contest as juniors Eneasi Piuleini and Jacob De Armas scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, to bring their record to 18-8.
They close Bay League play this week with home games against Santa Monica (Tuesday) and Redondo Union (Thursday).
Six-four senior guard Jaden Hubbard led the 9-15 Lancers with 25 points, including five 3s.
The Lancers close their season this week with Trinity League games against Servite and St. John Bosco.
*Aliso Niguel 58, St. Margaret’s 54: Kodai Fujii (16) and Jay Keys (14) combined for 30 points to pace Coach Keith Barnett’s Wolverines (19-7).
Barnett is the father of the Mater Dei guard who hit the buzzer-beating 3 to give Mater Dei its one-point margin of victory later Saturday night.
Six-four senior Russell Frye led the Tartans (13-9) with 13 points and 12 rebounds.
*Campbell Hall 57, Anaheim Canyon 44: The Vikings got 20 points, six rebounds and five steals from senior Baron Bellamy, and 14 points from junior Isaiah Johnson while continuing to play like the best sub-.500 team (at 11-14) in California.
Freshman guard Jordan Garcia (with 10 points) was the only player to score in double figures for the Comanches (20-6).
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