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SANTA ANA – All things considered, notably quality of opponent and the magnitude of what the stakes were, the Mater Dei High boys’ basketball team turned in its best quarter of the season Tuesday night.

And it enabled to the Monarchs to take a couple of figurative big steps.

The 60-54 victory over the visiting St. John Bosco Braves gave Coach Gary McKnight’s squad a share of another (Trinity) league championship – one the Monarchs can get win, outright, with a win in a Trinity- and regular-season finale at JSerra Thursday night.

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LAGUNA NIGUEL – The final week of the CIF Southern and L.A. City sections of boys’ hoops play will finalize the look of the various divisions of the playoffs that will get underway next week.

Notable among the “key” games of the week are:

*The Tuesday night Trinity clash pitting St. John Bosco (No. 6 in this week’s BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25) at Mater Dei (No. 8). Kentucky-bound guard Devin Askew (pictured) scored a season-high 29 points for Mater Dei in its 70-62 at St. John Bosco on Jan.

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SANTA ANA – Chicago’s Whitney Young High team wrapped up a two-game sweep of Trinity League opponents in impression fashion Saturday night in the second and final day of the 30^th Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei.

Twenty-four hours after knocking off JSerra Friday night (60-52), the Dolphins handled the host Monarchs – the top program in the top prep hoops league in the west – in equally impressive fashion, 67-57.

Guards D.J. Steward (21) and Tyler Beard (22) – headed to Duke and Georgetown, respectively – combined for 43 of Coach Tyrone Slaughter’s squad points, including 19 of their 21 fourth-quarter production.

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LONG BEACH – It was a game with significant CIF Southern Section Open Division implications.

Translated: The winner of the Del Rey League clash between St. Bernard and host St. Anthony Friday night was going to be a strong candidate to be one of the eight teams in the Open playoff pool when it’s unveiled on Feb. 9.

And, despite spotting the visitors an 8-1 lead, the Saints looked every bit the part of an “Open team” while cruising to an eased-up, 75-60 victory to improve to 25-2 overall and 6-1 in league.

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SANTA ANA – The 14-game, two-day, 30^th Nike Extravaganza tips off Friday afternoon at 3 o’clock at Mater Dei High.

Opening things are the clash between Heritage Christian (No. 13 in this week’s BurlisonOnBasketball Top 25) and Capistrano Valley Christian.

And Saturday night’s 9 o’clock finale is between No. 3 Rancho Christian and Gonzaga from Washington, DC.

Rancho Christian is led by the No. 1 player in the Class of 2020, USC-bound Evan Mobley (pictured).

Gonzaga point guard Chuck Harris (Butler) and forwards Terrence Williams (Michigan) and Myles Stute (Vanderbilt) are committed to Division I college programs.

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