California State Baskeball Championships: No. 6 Mater Dei, Reinhardt prevail

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -  Reports of Katin Reinhardt's demise and his broken right thumb were obviously greatly exaggerated.

The 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Mater Dei (Santa Ana) completed an illustrious career with 30 points that included a Division I record six 3-pointers as the the Monarchs breezed to a second-straight California State championship with a foul-marred 66-48 win over hometown favorite Sheldon (Sacramento) on Saturday night.

Reinhardt, who broke his thumb on his shooting hand in a Southern Section final against Long Beach Poly three weeks ago, made 11 of 17 shots and broke the 3-point record of 5 set by Josh Shipp (Fairfax) and Alastair Faux (Crenshaw) as the Monarchs (34-2) won their record ninth state crown, breaking a tie with Crenshaw.

Sophomore Stanley Johnson also came up huge with 21 points and 11 rebounds. No one else scored more than seven for the Monarchs. D'erryl Williamshad 13 points and Kyi Thomas 12 for Sheldon, which made just 18 of 57 shots (31 percent) and committed 18 turnovers - and had four starters foul out.

"Considering everything this game meant, this was the best," Reinhardt said. "Winning our ninth state title. Winning 34 games. Being the seniors' last game and winning a second straight title, it's all good."

Much better than when one doctor told Reinhardt he should pack his season in three weeks ago. But Reinhardt got a second opinion and a cast made, helping to finish off his season and prep career in storybook fashion.

Of course, Saturday's 30-point effort in front of about 6,000 fans and a regional television audience didn't hurt. Not like his hand.

"I had to take some Advil before the game," said the UNLV-bound standout. "And early on it was bugging me, but I figured out what to do and made it work. My teammates got me the ball, I got into a rhythm, the shots were dropping and we finished this thing off. It feels great."

Not so much for Sheldon (29-6), which came in shorthanded without third-leading scorer Armani Hampton, out with a knee injury.

In the second quarter, leading scorer Williams pulled a hamstring and limped around the rest of the game. But at least he didn't foul out. He was the only Sheldon starter not to foul out as the game got rather ugly in the second half while Mater Dei pulled away.

Sheldon coach Joey Rollings was composed after the game, in contrast to how he was feeling during the game. Not a deep squad, he kept his starters in the game and one-by-one they took the long, dejected walk to the bench with five fouls.

Sheldon was whistled for 24 fouls, Mater Dei 13. Mater Dei didn't exactly cash in at the line, making 12 of 24 to 8-for-14 for Sheldon.

The hometown fans voiced their displeasure most of the second half and a game once competitive and fun became lopsided and hard to watch.

Not that Mater Dei was going to falter anyway. In fact, the Monarchs had arguably their best all-around player Xavier Johnson, a 6-7 forward headed to Colarado, foul out in the third quarter. Actually, he picked up his fourth foul and then accessed a technical on the bench, which is automatically counted as a personal.

"You have to play through all that stuff," Rollings said. "We didn't. Mater Dei did and they deserved to win. We couldn't control the calls and they called what they say. ... But we'll be back. Almost all our guys are coming back and I'm sure a couple days we'll get geared up for next season."

Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight, the state's winningest coach in numbers of wins and now state championships (he surpassed Crenshaw's Willie West), said he was just relieved the season was over.

After winning last year's title, the target was directly on Mater Dei's back. It lost two overtime games and didn't lose a game against a California opponent. They entered Saturday's game No. 6 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings and No. 3 in the Freeman computer rankings.

"Now that it's over, heck yes it's enjoyable," he said. "Looking back it's a lot of fun. While you're in the fray it's difficult. ... Everyone is out to player their best game against us. They've had to bring it every night. I think that speaks volumes to how resilient and tough this group is. They had a heck of a season."

Mater Dei 66, Sheldon 48

MATER DEI (34-2)
Eli Stalzer 1-2 0-1 2, Katin Reinhardt 11-17 2-4 30, Xavier Johnson 2-8 3-6 7, Jordan Strawberry 1-3 0-1 2, Stanley Johnson 8-18 5-10 21, Elijah Brown 1-6 0-0 2, Mario Soto 0-0 2-2 2, Josh Cook 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-54 12-24 66.

SHELDON (29-6)
Kyi Thomas 4-9 1-3 12, D'erryl Williams 4-10 5-7 13, Dakarai Allen 2-12 1-2 5, Nate Iese 3-7 0-0 6, Ryan Manning 2-7 1-2 5, Tyler Morris 0-2 0-0 0, Chris Haney 1-2 0-0 2, Jalen Hicks 0-1 0-0 0, Jordan Bradley 1-3 0-0 2, Antonio Lewis 1-3 0-0 3, Nolan Merker 0-1 0-0 2. Totals 18-57 8-14 48.

Mater Dei  21  12  12  21  -  66
Sheldon    18    9  11  10  -  48

3-point goals - Mater Dei 6-19 (Reinhardt 6), Sheldon 4-18 (Thomas 3, Lewis). Rebounds - Mater Dei 40 (S. Johnson 11), Sheldon 37 (Iese (7). Turnovers - Mater Dei 17, Sheldon 18.

Division III
Alemany (Mission Hills) 71, Sacred Heart Cathedral (San Francisco) 67 Seven bus loads of Alemany students took the seven-hour ride from Mission Hills to Sacramento Saturday. It was well worth it. Nobody on either side would debate that.

Alemany's four-point victory over Sacred Heart Cathedral was the most entertaining, bitterly fought and evenly-matched game of the two-day, 10-game tournament. And it largely came down to one decisive third quarter.

Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Darrell Barbour called it an “out of character” quarter. A lapse. A lack of poise. Alemany coach Tray Meeks called it just simply perseverance. Playing tough defense. Showing heart.

Either way, that eight minutes is all Alemany, a resilient, athletic, skilled bunch, needed to go on a 23-11 run which proved the difference in a terrific Division III state championship game. 

Nevada-bound 6-foot-4 senior guard Marqueze Coleman scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and Max Guercy, a gritty 5-10 senior guard, added 19 points as Alemany (33-4) won its first state title.

The Irish (28-6) outshot (46 percent to 41) and outrebounded (38-33) the Warriors, and got big performances from Joshua Fox (19 points), Tyler Petroni (15 points) and Taylor Johns (13 points, 19 rebounds), but they couldn’t win the school’s second title in four years.

This after taking what looked to be a commanding 40-32 halftime lead. It left the Irish drained and searching for answers.

“The first half we were the better team,” Barbour said. “The third quarter was uncharacteristic for us. That said, they kept coming back. That’s a good team. That’s basketball.”

Said Meek: "What a tale of two halfs. ... We had enough talent and depth on this team to persevere. The heart of this team overall made this possible."

Johns, a 6-6 senior forward, dominated the first half with 11 points and 14 rebounds. But Alemany made a concerted effort to keep him off the boards. He also picked up late in the third quarter as did starter Herman Pratt.

By that time, Alemany had taken a 55-51 lead, one it would never relinquish, though a layup and free throw by Fox tied the score at 65-65 with 1:53 left.

Coleman made a driving layup and Guercy drained two free throws, before Fox answered with a putback making it 69-67 with 1:01 left.

After an Alemany miss, the Irish had a chance to tie, but a Khalil James runner missed as did two follows, one each by Fox and Johns, the second of which hung on the rim for seemingly an eternity before Coleman grabbed the rebound.

“That’s basketball,” Barbour repeated.

Coleman was fouled and he swished two free throws to seal it with 9.5 seconds left to the approval of a huge Alemany cheering section. Someone asked what it was like going to the line with all his friends and fans in the backdrop. Alemany's cheering section was right behind the team's basket.

“I thought to myself if I make these two free threws, game over. … smile. … joy,” Coleman said.

That it was for Alemany. It was quite the contrary for the Irish.

Barbour, who has coached 19 seasons, said this was one of his favorite teams. Perhaps his very favorite. As good as it was, it was so very close to being flat out historic and earnestly undefeated. The Irish lost their six games by a total of 16 points and Saturday’s margin was the largest of the season. Three of the losses came against state Division II champion Mitty.

“Our effort was always there as it was today,” Barbour said. “It was a fantastic group to coach. But I’ll tell you this being now to two of these (state-title games). It feels much better to win, than lose.”

Both sides could agree the contest was first rate. Both coaches called it an "honor" to play one another.

Guercy, the heart of Alemany, simply thanked his teammates.

"This is the greatest feeling," he said. "I love this team. I've been with coach Meeks for four years and he prepared me for this. It's been an honor to have him as my coach and to play on this team."

Alemany 71, Sacred Heart Cathedral 67

ALEMANY (33-4)

Kenneth Moffett 2-3 4-6 8, Marqueze Coleman 9-17 7-9 27, Jerico Richardson 0-3 0-0 0, Max Guercy 6-16 6-8 19, Mazhaun Henderson 4-7 3-4 12, Brandon Boyd 0-2 0-2 0, Michael Coleman 1-4 0-0 3, Malik Anderson 1-3 0-0 2, Luis Gomez 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-55 20-29 71.

SACRED HEART CATHEDRAL (28-6)
Josh Fox 8-17 3-6 19, Taylor Johns 5-9 3-6 13, Tyler Petroni 3-7 6-6 15, Khalil James 2-7 0-0 5, Herman Pratt 5-7 0-2 10, Deondre Otis 2-4 0-0 5, Liam O'Reilly 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 25-54 12-20 67.

Alemany                          17  15  23  18  -  71
Sacred Heart Cathedral  15  25  11  16  -  67

3-point goals - Alemany 5-22 (Ma. Coleman 2, Guercy, Henderson, Mi. Coleman), Sacred Heart Cathedral 5-16 (Petroni 3, James, Otis). Rebounds - Alemany 33 (Ma. Coleman 9), Sacred Heart Cathdral 38 (Johns 19). Turnovers - Alemany 16, Sacred Heart Cathedral 21. Division V

Village Christian 62, St. Joseph Notre Dame 51

There are times when you just tip your hat, or in this case, wipe your brow.

That's about all the St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda) Pilots could do after an athletic, long and determined Village Christian (Sun Valley) squad earned a 62-51 Division V California championship win Saturday at Power Balance Pavilion.

The Pilots (29-5) outrebounded the Crusaders 43-32 - the first time Village Christian has been outrebounded all season.

St. Joseph got Village Christian's top players in foul trouble, another goal.

The Pilots contested every shot, took care of the ball and were within a bucket entering the final quarter.

But the Crusaders (33-3) had an answer at every turn, the two biggest were back-to-back 3-pointers from reserve guard Joe Shashaty midway through the fourth quarter, giving his team a 52-45 lead.

As hard as it tried, St. Joseph, the defending state champion with a brand new team, never got closer than five.

Bryan Alberts, a 6-foot-5 point guard considered one of the top 100 sophomores in the country, led the winners with 17 points, Marquis Salmon and Shashaty had 12 each and Marsalis Johnson chipped in 11. Shashaly took four shots, all 3-pointers, and buried them all.

Temidayo Yussef had 15 points and 13 rebounds and Gemeny Givens 14 for St. Joseph, which was trying to win its fifth state crown. This was Village Christian's first title in first appearance. 

"That's just a real good team," senior captain Givens said. "They're big, they shoot, play good defense and well-coached. We played our hardest, we just didn't come away successful."

Village Christian coach Jon Shaw called the game a street fight and St. Joseph coach Don Lippi a legend.

"We prepared for the best and beat the best," he said. "I couldn't prouder of what we did today."

The referees let them play early and the score at the end of the first quarter was 8-4 in favor of Village Christian. St. Joseph couldn't penetrate the Crusaders' long and physical zone - its front line goes 6-7, 6-6 and 6-6 - and it had to settle for perimeter shots.

Givens responded with four 3-pointers and eventually the Pilots eventually tied the game at 18-18.

Village Christian seemed to take control with a 10-2 run before St. Joseph again closed within a bucket at the end of the third quarter.

From there the Crusaders took control behind the 3-point shooting of Shashaty, inside work of Andrew English and all-around play of Alberts.

"We prepared to beat the best and that's what we did," Shaw said. "For our guys, this was a matter of persevering. These guys believed in one another and it all paid off."

It helped to get perfect shooting from Shashaty, who has come off the bench all season.

"It's overwhelming," said Shashaty when describing the moment. "I never dreamed of making shots like that in a situation like this."

It was St. Joseph's dream to win back-to-back for the first time since 1991 and 1992 when Jason Kidd led the Pilots. In a Nike promotion, Givens has been communicating with Kidd about the season.

"We didn't get our movie ending," Givens said. "But then this ain't Hollywood."

Village Christian 62, St. Joseph 51

VILLAGE CHRISTIAN (33-3)

Kirstian Robles 1-4 0-0 3, Bryan Alberts 7-14 3-4 17, Andrew English 2-5 3-3 7, Joe Shashaty 4-4 0-0 12, Marquis Salmon 4-10 3-8 12, Marsalis Johnson 3-5 5-6 11. Totals 21-42 14-21 62.

ST. JOSEPH NOTRE DAME (29-5)

Justin Brown 2-8 0-2 4, Temidayo Yussef 3-12 9-10 15, Nick Lacy 3-9 0-0 8, Gemeny Givens 4-12 2-5 14, Lamont Banks 3-10 0-2 6, James LaFoilette 0-3 0-0 0, Marc Voisenat 1-1 1-2 4. Totals 16-56 12-21 51.

Village Christian  8  12  17  25  -  62
St. Joseph           4  14  17  16  -  51

3-point goals - Village Christian 6-13 (Shashaly 4, Salmon, Robles), St. Joseph 7-22 (Givens 4, Lacy 2, Voisenat). Rebounding - Village Christian 32 (English 7), St. Joseph 43 (Yussef 13). Turnovers - Village Christian 12, St. Joseph 15.