Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Trinity BB teams go in opposite directions Tuesday

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CERRITOS and SANTA ANA – The 2024-25 debut for the Mater Dei High basketball team got off to a nifty start Tuesday night at Foothill High despite missing two senior starters because of knee (Blake Davidson) and hip (Owen Verna) ailments, respectively.

Behind juniors Luke Barnett and Malloy Smith, they methodically moved to a 14-point advantage early in the second quarter during a “Feast Week” contest with defending San Diego Section Open champion Carlsbad.

The rest of the game wasn’t quite so nifty for Gary McKnight’s Monarchs, whose individual and team defense were near-negligible 73-70 loss in overtime.

Senior guard Jake Hall scored 45 points – hitting 16 of 25 from the field, including six 3s, and all seven of his free throws – to lead the Lancers to their second win in as many games in the then-nine-days-old season.

And Hall and the rest of the Clark Allard-coached crew accomplished something that only one other squad had pulled off in McKnight’s 42 years as the Mater Dei coach:

It beat them in the Monarchs’ season opener, which last happened nearly 29 years ago – Dec. 8, 1995 – when they fell to prep school powerhouse Oak Hill Academy of Virginia, 50-41, in the Bren Events Center on the UC Irvine campus.

Hall (scheduled to attend UC San Diego next season) was only “reasonably contained” in the fourth quarter, when he took only four shots and knocked in two (one of those a 3).

That gave him 38 points but those weren’t good enough to secure the win as, leading by a deuce, the Lancers committed a turnover  and, after a Mater Dei timeout with 16 seconds to go, Barnett (who finished with a team-high 19 points) scored on a drive 10 seconds later.

But Hall (picture courtesy Devin Ugland) tacked on seven points in the four-minute extra period, three of those coming on his first three throws since the first quarter.

Another cool stat: The kid hit 11 of 14 from the field (including five 3s) over the 16 minutes of the second and third quarters for 27 of his team’s 41 points.

Allard also got nails efforts from senior guard Jordan Garner (15 points, including two gutsy 3s in the second half and three free throws in OT).

The Monarchs, who are back in action at Mira Costa High for a game against Leuzinger, played with just one player – Barnett – who was among the top seven in minutes played last season.

Along with Davidson and Verna’s injuries, guards Scotty Belnap and Brady Karich graduate, while Brandon Benjamin (back to Canyon) and Brannon Martinsen (JSerra) transferred.

But Smith (another junior, at a rapidly growing – and improving – 6-5), had some strong moments with 15 points and six rebounds, while transfer (via Ohio) sophomore forward Demarcus Henry had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

In another game involving a Trinity League program and played earlier in the afternoon on a Valley Christian “neutral court” about 21 miles to the northwest in Cerritos, the Santa Margarita Eagles improved to 3-0 while knocking off Long Beach Poly in stunningly one-sided fashion, 81-40.

Coach Justin Bell’s team’s trailed the Jackrabbits, 18-14, late in the first quarter before going on a 19-0 run marked by transition 3’s and layups.

Each starter (and first sub, senior post Ekene Anyiam-Osigwe) was mostly terrific.

The only senior starter, 6-9 and Long Beach State-bound Dallas Washington, scored 16 points with eight rebounds.

The three junior veterans in the lineup went for 22 points, eight rebounds and four assists (6-8 Brayden Kyman); six points and seven rebounds (6-7 Drew Anderson) and six points, five rebounds and five assists (6-foot Rodney Westmoreland).

And the newest Class of 2026 member of the program, 6-3 Kaiden Bailey, continued what has been a smooth transition after two standout seasons at Crean Lutheran and a few months-stop at Calvary Chapel in Santa Ana.

As was the case with Jake Hall later Tuesday evening at Foothill, Bailey – 22 points (including three 3s), seven rebounds and four assists – was all but un-guardable with the ball in his hands.

According to my stat-keeping, the Jackrabbits (coming off a 73-70 victory over Centennial in Corona Saturday night) missed 29 of 38 shots from the field over the final three quarters.

Senior Jovani Ruff led Poly (2-1) with 18 points but missed on 12 of his final 15 field-goal attempts.

In two other Feast Week games I caught at Foothill Tuesday night:

*San Clemente 79, Santa Ana Calvary Chapel 46: The Tritons (No. 21 in the BurlisonOnBasketball SoCal Top 70) improved to 6-1 as seniors Christian Fernandez and Porter Hansen scored 21 and 17 points, respectively.

*Rancho Cucamonga 58, Foothill 54: The visitors (No. 22 in the Top 70) held a 15-point advantage at intermission before the Knights pared the deficit to four points going into the fourth quarter and to two in the final 30 seconds.

But  senior guard Chu Chu Osuji was perfect on his four free throws – the second of those with 19 seconds to go for the game’s final points – to help the Cougars improve to 3-1.

Six-three Aaron Glass led all scorers with 23 points (17 in the first half) for Rancho Cucamonga.

Six-eleven Danny Kennard led Foothill with 13 points while senior classmate Kai Nixon added 10 and Crean Lutheran junior transfer Braeden Davidson 11.

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