No. 4 Bishop Montgomery edges No. 6 Mater Dei to reach California Open Division state championship game

Video: Ethan Thompson highlights
Oregon State-bound senior has Bishop Montgomery headed to state title game.

Ranked No. 4 nationally by MaxPreps, Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) continued its run of big game wins Saturday by knocking off No. 6 Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 60-53 in California's Open Division southern regional final.

The Knights (30-2) advance to face Woodcreek (Roseville) next Saturday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento for the state championship.

Trailing 36-33 heading into the fourth quarter, Bishop Montgomery got back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the final eight minutes from David Singleton and Gianni Hunt. That gave the Knights a 49-42 lead and broke open a game that had been virtually dead even throughout.

Singleton paced the winners with 15 points while Oregon State-bound senior guard Ethan Thompson added 13 and Hunt 12.



Bishop Montgomery has four wins over national Top 10 teams in the postseason, including a 70-55 victory over Mater Dei in the section playoffs on March 4.

In the two wins over Mater Dei, Bishop Montgomery outscored the Monarchs 59-28 in the fourth quarter.

Mater Dei finishes the season 33-3 but has a promising 2017-18 to look forward to with the return of juniors Spencer Freedman and Bol Bol.

In the northern regional final, super junior Jordan Brown scored 31 points and grabbed 17 rebounds to spark Woodcreek past Sheldon (Sacramento) 66-59. The Timberwolves used some fourth-quarter heroics of their own, erasing a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter.