Trinity League boys’ hoops races as tight as can be

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SANTA ANA – If you’re eagerly anticipating seeing who comes out on top of the Trinity League high school boys’ basketball race, you don’t have much longer to wait – next Tuesday’s last day of the regular season.

The race among the league’s top four teams couldn’t be more tangled following Wednesday night’s action.

With – as anticipated – Santa Margarita (82-36 over Orange Lutheran) and St. John Bosco (76-50 vs. Servite) handling the league’s 5^th and 6^th place squads, it was left to the JSerra and Mater Dei clash in Santa Ana to shake things up among the four title contenders.

And that it did, with the visitors’ 62-52 victory in the Meruelo Athletic Center – their fourth in a row over two seasons against the Monarchs – tightening the vice on the already narrowest of gaps in 1 thru 4.

*The JSerra Lions (20-5 overall and No. 8 in the CIF Southern Section computer ratings that were updated Monday) and the SJB Braves (22-4 and No. 3) are deadlocked at the top at 6-2.

*And the Santa Margarita Eagles (19-5 and No. 9) and Mater Dei Monarchs (19-6 and No. 13) are each a half-game behind, at 5-2.

Coach Keith Wilkinson’s Lions didn’t ease their way into the game at Mater Dei, jumping out to a 12-zip advantage as the short-handed Monarchs missed their first nine shots before senior center Blake Davidson’s layup with1:57 to go for their first points.

Coach Gary McKnight’s Monarchs have played the season without senior Owen Verna, who started the past two years and was projected as the team’s point guard this season .

He underwent surgery to correct a chronic hip ailment two weeks ago. Th next time he plays it will be with his future college program, St. Joseph’s of Philadelphia.

The guy that has started in that role, senior Riley Hale, missed his second game in a row with injury.

And they were without one of Southern California’s best freshmen, 6-foot-6 Evan Willis, who (according to McKnight) will be sidelined for what remains of the season after suffering injuries to both wrists as the result of a hard fall after a dunk attempt during the team’s win over Crean Lutheran Saturday night.

Despite missing two starters (Hale and Willis), the Monarchs managed to hang tough through most of the way, getting to within six points (at 26-20) at intermission when Davidson (his team’s best player Wednesday with 14 points, eight rebounds and three assists) just beat the buzzer for a 3-pointer.

At times, the Lions helped keep the Monarchs close while finishing with 16 turnovers – most of those unforced.

A Davidson follow shot got his team to within 45-41 a minute into the fourth quarter.

A turnover gave the ball back to the Monarchs, but a Luke Barnett 3 was off, triggering a B.J. Davis-Ray-driven, 12-6 run that pushed the advantage to 10 points with just less than three minutes remaining.

A layup and 3-pointer by sophomore DeMarcus Henry – sandwiched around one of those Santa Margarita turnovers – cut the Monarchs’ deficit to five points with 1:57 to go, leading to a Wilkinson timeout.

When play resumed, the Lions executed a high post-to-back-cutter perfectly, Grayson Sinek’s pass to Davis-Ray for a layup with 1:20 remaining.

And, after another Barnett miss from deep (he finished 1 of 12 behind the arc), Sinek capped another ideally executed possession, taking a pass from sophomore Earl Bryson and, after a dribble for rhythm, scored the game’s final points with a 3 from the right wing with 34 seconds remaining.

Quality defense is always a collective effort, which was the case in the Lions holding the Monarchs four starters on the perimeter (Barnett, Henry, Malloy Smith and Andrew Niccol) to a cumulative 12 of 38 from the field.

But the 6-7 Davis-Ray, along with being the game’s leading scorer (23 points, 10 in the fourth quarter while not missing a shot), also provided the defensive impetus.

He was the primary defender assigned to Barnett – as he was when the Lions prevailed in San Juan Capistrano on Jan. 15.

He did another terrific job in hampering the effectiveness of one of the best shooters anywhere in high school.

Barnett missed 13 of his 17 field goal attempts, with six free throws, no assists and four turnovers Wednesday night.

And Barnett missed six of 19 shots in the Jan. 15 game, with five of the makes coming in the fourth quarter.

Afterward, Wilkinson heaped praise upon Davis-Ray before the topic of that four-game win streak against a program that a Santa Margarita varsity team had never beaten before Jan. 24 of last season was broached.

“I’ve got the utmost for Gary McKnight and the kind of success he’s had with this program – it’s historical,” Wilkinson said.

“So much work and time is involved in getting a program to where it can be competitive with them.”

Wilkinson, like the league’s other five head coaches, understands there is no celebrating a single Trinity win too long.

“Playing these teams, twice a year (in the regular season), really tests you (as a coach and team),” he said.

A perfect example was left unsaid by Wilkinson:

The Lions are at home Friday night (7 o’clock) against a Santa Margarita team that whipped them – 70-49 – three Fridays earlier in Rancho Santa Margarita.

And here are three more:

Mater Dei and St. John Bosco play in Inglewood’s Intuit Dome Arena Saturday (3 p.m.).

The Monarchs visit Santa Margarita Monday night, with the SJB Braves visiting San Juan Capistrano Tuesday night.

Collectively at stake in those four games are as many as three slots in the CIF Open Division playoff field, significant seeds in the D-I bracket and a Trinity League title – even if it might have to be split a couple of ways.