After spending almost the entire season at the top of the national rankings, the Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) boys basketball season went poof in a matter of five days without even a section crown to show for it.
The Monarchs’ season ended with their second double-digit point loss in five days with a 79-64 defeat to visiting Renardo Sidney and Fairfax on Tuesday night in a Southern Region quarterfinal game.
Adding salt to the wound, Sidney, a 6-foot-10 senior and McDonald’s All-American, wasn’t even much of a factor due to foul trouble. According to the Los Angeles Times, he finished with just 10 points.
Solomon Hill, Fairfax
Photo By Nicholas Koza
Instead guard Jordan Weathers drilled seven 3-pointers and scored 23 points and USC-bound Solomon Hill added 19 as the Lions (27-4), whose season looked in peril after a Los Angeles City Section semifinal loss two weeks ago to Taft, moved into the semifinals on Thursday at arch-rival Westchester, a 65-52 winner over El Camino.
Mater Dei, which was stunned 71-56 in the Southern Section I-AA finals to King (Riverside) on Friday, finished at 31-2.
The Monarchs were led by Tyler Lamb and David Wear with 19 points each.
Other Southern California Division I quarterfinal winners – King, 62-53 over Tesoro, and Taft, 54-52 over Dominguez. King will host Taft on Thursday.
Dribble drive notes: Top-seed King fought back from a 10-point deficit to beat Tesoro. … Chris Manresa had 13 rebounds in the first half for Tesoro and Kawhi Leonard had 18 points and 11 rebounds for King, which also got a combined 21 from Taylor Cunningham and Steven Mallory. … Dominguez raced to a 15-0 lead but couldn’t hold to beat Taft despite 17 points by Keala King. … Terran Carter had 16 points and 13 rebounds for Taft, which took a 51-48 lead on a 3-pointer by Terran Carter. … Westchester was led by 5-9 guard Dominique O’Connor, who last week was selected Los Angeles City Player of the Year and not Sidney.
Domonique O'Connor, Westchester
Photo By Nicholas Koza
Here is a glance at each of the nine other divisions in regional quarterfinal play on Tuesday along with semifinal match-ups.
See official pairings and times for boys and girls.
BOYS
Northern California – Division I
Scores: McClymonds 65, Franklin 53, Newark Memorial 52, Bellarmine 51; Folsom 88, Skyline 74; Monte Vista 61, Lowell 33.
Thursday’s matchups: Newark Memorial (27-5) vs. McClymonds (27-1) at Cal State East Bay; Folsom (31-1) at Monte Vista (27-3).
Dribble: At Cal State East Bay, McClymonds had a tougher time against Franklin, a second-place Sac-Joaquin Section team, than most thought. … McClymonds, the defending state champs, trailed much of the way but used a 17-5 run to end the game to pull away. … Justin Standley led McClymonds with 19 points. … Franklin coach Jesse Foremaker was coming back home in some ways. He coached at Hayward High, about a Tiger Woods tee shot from Cal State East Bay. … Remember, Franklin had Folsom on the ropes most of the way but couldn’t finish the deal in the SJS finals. … Amir Carraway had 20 for Franklin. … In the game of the night, Bobby McCall scored 14 points in the fourth quarter including a game-winning layup with 5.5 seconds left lifting visiting Newark Memorial over Bellarmine. … Khion Sankey stole the ball as time expired to give the Cougars the hard-earned win after losing to Monte Vista in the North Coast Section finals. … Kori Babineaux, coming off a 1 of 11 shooting performance in the SJS finals, had 26 points leading Folsom to the hard-fought victory. … Teammates Tony Johnson, Patrick Akins and Brandon Babineaux combined for 44 for Folsom. … Folsom has won 29 straight. … Its only loss was against Monte Vista. … You think the Bulldogs might want to avenge that loss? … The Folsom-Monte Vista game should be the game of the night in Northern California. … If you want some mustard on Folsom program read this by Sacramento Bee’s prolific writer Joe Davidson.
Kory Babineaux, Folsom
Photo By David Steutel
Southern California – Division II
Scores: Thousand Oaks 93, Reseda 91; Loyola 68, Hoover 57; Leuzinger 108, Garces 74; Eisenhower 102, University 72.
Thursday’s matchup: Loyola (25-6) at Thousand Oaks (30-2); Leuzinger (26-6) at Eisenhower (29-3).
Dribble: No matter what, these will some entertaining games. … Can’t remember a semifinal matchup of two teams that just scored in triple digits. … Eisenhower fell behind 9-0 before waking up. .. Creighton-bound Andrew Bock had 25 points including five of his team’s 14 3-pointers. … After missing eight straight free throws, Antonio Lopez sank two to decide Thousand Oaks’ overtime win over Reseda. … Thousand Oaks made just 17 of 45 from the line yet pulled out the win behind 29 points from Alex Tiffin. … Hoover’s Angela Chol broke a state record for blocked shots with four against Loyola, but as legendary prep scribe Steve Brand wrote, he’d gladly turn those last four blocks in for a victory. … Chol finished with 336 blocks, two more than Emery’s Darnell Robinson in 1992. … Ryan Oliver and Miles Cartwright combined for 29 points for Loyola and Jordan Gathers, nephew of the late Hank Gathers, added 11. … Chol, a 6-9 sophomore, had eight points and 10 rebounds, while teammate Terrance Ingram added 12 points.
Northern California – Division II
Scores: St. Francis 74, Northgate 56; Fairfield 56, Chico 53; Hayward 78, Archbishop Mitty 51; Rocklin 72, Pleasant Valley 53.
Thursday’s matchup: Fairfield (25-7) at St. Francis (29-2); Hayward (21-8) at Rocklin (30-2)
Dribble: St. Francis watched a 49-29 lead dwindle to six but held on behind Shawn Grant and Tyler Johnson with 18 each. … Fairfield traveled North a couple hours and handled Chico and now will head South for more than an hour to try for another upset. … It will give St. Francis all it can handle, but Lancers are indeed battle tested. … Hayward is a completely different team than earlier in the year and got 18 points from Davion Berry in surprisingly easy first-round win. … UCLA-bound Brendan Lane had 19 in Rocklin’s easy first-round win. … Rocklin better be careful against Hayward, but without much size, Lane should have his way down low.
Southern California – Division III
Scores: Harvard-Westlake 70, Ridgeview 47; Gahr 74, Hanford West 54; Canyon-Anaheim 60, La Jolla 46; Ocean View 67, Cathedral Catholic 50.
Thursday’s matchup: Gahr (19-15) at Harvard-Westlake (26-6); Canyon (26-6) at Ocean View (25-7).
Dribble: Battle-tested Gahr has the most losses of any team left in the state. … The Gladiators just lost to Harvard-Westlake in the Southern Section finals 87-75 on Saturday. … Erik Swoope, great basketball name, had 20 points and Austin Kelly 17 for Harvard-Westlake in the last win over Gahr, which actually had a two-point lead heading into the final quarter before H-W went on a 31-17 run. … H-W started the season 5-5 and has now won 21 of 22. … Chris Anderson (17 points) led four Canyon players in double figures over San Diego Section champion La Jolla. … Canyon has won 19 straight and Ocean View 17 of 18.
Northern California – Division III
Scores: Sacred Heart Cathedral 86, Del Oro 63; Enterprise 52, Miramonte 51; Analy 60, Burlingame 50; Sacramento 74, West Valley 32
Thursday’s matchup: Enterprise at Sacred Heart Cathedral; Analy at Sacramento.
Dribble: Nothing too compelling here, though Enterprise’s victory was thrilling on an game-winning layup with 2.5 seconds left by Anthony Williams. … Enterprise led the entire game until a basket by terrific 6-8 center Eric Obeysekere (17 points) with 18 seconds left. … After Williams’ basket, Miramonte tried a lob to Obeysekere but it was tipped away at the buzzer. … Nice win for the Redding school which now gets a four-hour trip to San Francisco and probably a longer trip home. … Sorry this one is all about Sacred Heart Cathedral versus Sacramento on Saturday. .. Analy, which got 20 more points from super sophomore Max Fujii on Tuesday, has had a fantastic season but will be no match for Chase Tapley and Sacramento on Thursday. … Fresno State-bound Jerry Brown broke loose for a career high 33 in Sacred Heart Cathedral’s win over Del Oro.
Southern California – Division IV
Scores: Bishop Montgomery 71, Kingsburg 62; Bakersfield Christian 67, Chaminade 48; Price 54, Francis Parker 42; Morningside 45, Bishop’s School 43.
Thursday’s matchup: Bakersfield Christian (23-7) at Bishop Montgomery (26-4); Morningside (24-9) at Price (27-6).
Northern California – Division IV
Scores: Salesian 65, Christian Brothers 47; Sutter 55, Sacred Heart Prep 49, St. Mary’s-Berkeley 60, Menlo 45; Modesto Christian 81, Corning 44.
Thursday’s matchup: Sutter (23-5) vs. Salesian (28-4) at Albany; St. Mary’s (27-5) at Modesto Christian (23-9).
Dribble: Not much drama here, but feel bad for Central Coast Section champ Menlo, which for its title got to play defending NorCal champion St. Mary’s. … Menlo, which got 25 points from Jerry Rice Jr., would have had a better shot losing and playing at Sutter. … The second best game of Thursday will be St. Mary’s at Modesto Christian, which has been quiet as can be all year but now ready to make state-title run behind one of the state’s best players, UCLA-bound Reeves Nelson, who has been hurt much of the year but seemingly 100 percent. … Junior Dominique Lee and Santa Barbara-bound Chris Brew are two of the most exciting players in the tournament for St. Mary’s. … Salesian appears untouchable until the finals.
Southern California – Division V
Scores: Windward 76, Mission Prep 34; Central Valley Christian 81, View Park 66; Pacific Hills 64, Maranatha Christian 62; Foothill Christian 87, Desert Christian 68.
Thursday’s matchup: Central Valley Christian (28-4) at Windward (26-6); Pacific Hills (27-6) at Foothill Christian (27-5).
Dribble: One of the few divisions where the top four seeds actually advanced. … Besides Southern Section, nice to see the San Diego and Central Sections represented. … One of the state’s leading scorers Troy Leaf had 32 and Jvonte Brooks 26 for Foothill Christian.
Northern California – Division V
Scores: St. Joseph 54, Priory 47; Redding Christian 68, Forest Lake Christian 56; Branson 48, Bradshaw Christian 34; Eastside Prep 73, East Nicolaus 46.
Thursday’s matchup: Redding Christian (26-5) at St. Joseph (24-8); Branson (29-4) at Eastside Prep (20-8).
Dribble: The length of Woodside Priory gave St. Joseph plenty of problems but Jacari Whitfield came through with 21 points to pull out a tough game. … Redding Christian likely won’t put up such a battle. … Eastside Prep was surely hoping to avoid another game with Branson this year, but not so as the three-time defending state champs went on the road to take care of a very good Bradshaw Christian team. … The good news for Eastside is this year it hosts the game.
Long Beach Poly senior Monique Oliver
File Photo By Dennis Lee
GIRLS
Southern California – Division I
Scores: Cajon 64, Perris 48; Colony 61, Chatsworth 53; Troy 62, Canyon Springs 48; Long Beach Poly 76, Stockdale 47.
Thursday’s matchup: Colony (27-3) at No. 1 Cajon (31-2); Troy (29-2) at Long Beach Poly (28-3).
Dribble: Fantastic finish as the four top seeds advanced. … Layshia Clarendon had another monster game with 34 more points in tough win over tough Perris team. ... Poly, led by McDonald's All American Monique Oliver, is bent on a return game with Cajon, which defeated the Jackrabbits soundly in Friday's Southern Section final.
Northern California – Division I
Scores: Monte Vista 53, Sheldon 26; Lincoln 66, Castlemont 51; Deer Valley 42, San Benito 33; Kennedy 60, Lowell 48.
Thursday’s matchup: Lincoln (28-4) at Monte Vista (27-2); Deer Valley (23-7) at Kennedy (26-7).
Dribble: Monte Vista’s remarkable Niveen Rasheed overcame early foul trouble to record a triple double, 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. … Deer Valley got a big win on the road in Hollister as Deserie Azlin had 18 points and 12 rebounds for winners. … Should be great matchup between Deer Valley and Kennedy, which got a combined 36 from Shanice Butler and Melody Kwok on Tuesday. … Deer Valley is salivating to get another shot at Monte Vista, which beat the Wolverines soundly in the NCS finals on Saturday.
Southern California – Division II
Scores: Mater Dei 86, Garces 26; Edison 53, West Hills 41; Hanford 90, Beverly Hills 65; Brea Olinda 67, Mt. Miguel 44.
Thursday’s matchup: Edison (25-5) at Mater Dei (31-0); Hanford (26-5) at Brea Olinda (30-2).
Dribble: Mater Dei has yet to play a playoff game that wasn’t decided by less than 40 points. … The Monarchs’ average margin of victory in five postseason wins is 49.5. … All are pointing to fantastic Mater Dei-Brea Olinda final, but Hanford might get in the way. … Sophomore Kaleena Lewis had 32 more points for Mater Dei after a 44-point explosion in the Southern Section finals. … Lewis is creeping up the National Player of the Year list, even as a 10th-grader.
Northern California – Division II
Scores: Oak Ridge 57, Northgate 45; Gunn 59, Pleasant Valley 32; Mitty 82, Valley 41; Carondelet 72, Chico 48.
Thursday’s matchup: Gunn (29-1) at Oak Ridge (29-3); Mitty (22-8) vs. Carondelet (27-3) at De La Salle.
Dribble: How about those for some lopsided scores? … The closest one involved top seed Oak Ridge which had the toughest first-round opponent, a very good Northgate team. … The potent pair of Kristina Williams and Sara James bailed out Oak Ridge with a combined 41. … The Mitty-Carondelet matchup should be tremendous. … Mitty is probably more battle-tested and bigger down low, but Carondelet’s guards are more skilled and better shooters. … A complete tossup.
Southern California – Division III
Scores: Foothill 56, Our Lady of Peace 38; Marlborough 60, Roosevelt 42; Inglewood 74, Canyon Crest Academy 49; Woodbridge 38, Porterville 20.
Thursday’s matchup: Marlborough (22-11) at Foothill (30-1); Inglewood (17-16) at Woodbridge (25-3).
Dribble: Foothill, which won a much-elusive Southern Section crown last week, might have had a little let down, shooting 25 percent in the first half but recovered to have more than enough to beat the San Diego Section runner-up. … USC-bound Christina Marinacci had 20 points, 12 rebounds and six assists and one of the state’s most unheralded point guards Blair Shinoda added 10 points, eight assists and six rebounds. … . Ashley Ward had 16 points for Woodbridge, which forced 32 turnovers in an un-artistic victory. … Inglewood will definitely try to push the tempo Thursday.
Sacred Heart's Ki-Ki Moore goes for 4-year title sweep
File Photo By Dennis Lee
Northern California – Division III
Scores: Sacred Heart Cathedral 70, Dublin 44; Sacramento 73, Paradise 42; Bishop O’Dowd 56, St. Ignatius 35; St. Mary’s-Stockton 84, Enterprise 47.
Thursday’s matchup: Sacramento (23-9) at Sacred Heart Cathedral (27-1); Bishop O’Dowd (28-2) at St. Mary’s (28-3).
Dribble: Everyone is pointing at St. Mary’s-Sacred Heart Cathedral matchup, but each has monumental semifinal challenges. … Don’t be fooled by Sacramento’s nine losses. … Two have been to St. Mary’s and it features length, quickness and plenty of Division I talent. … Sacred Heart, which used a 28-4 run in the first half to defeat Dublin, has a big advantage at home and overall poise. … St. Mary’s is so amazingly potent, deep and quick, but O’Dowd is one of the few squads that match up or even surpass athletically. … The Dragons, behind 17 points from Robie Mayberry, showed it can run off a spurt that St. Mary’s is so famous for with a 21-0 streak to win going away against a very good St. Ignatius team. … All-American candidate Chelsea Gray had 17 points leading four players in double figures for St. Mary’s, which played without Afurge Jemerigbe, who has missed stages of the season with nagging knee and ankle injuries. … She was likely resting up for Thursday’s game against a very long O’Dowd team.
Southern California – Division IV
Scores: Bishop’s School 74, St. Joseph 55; Pacific Hills 61, Corcoran 20; Harvard-Westlake 72, Kingsburg 29; Mater Dei-Chula Vista 53, Notre Dame-Sherman Oaks 34.
Thursday’s matchup: Pacific Hills (23-10) at Bishop’s School (29-2); Harvard-Westlake (21-10) at Mater Dei (27-3).
Dribble: Inga Orekhova had 28 points to lead top-seed Bishop’s, which will have its hands full with battle-tested Pacific Hills. … Pacific Hills is led by rugged post player Joanna Miller (19.6 points per game) and point guard Bree Richardson (13.2), daughter of former UCLA great Pooh Richardson.
Northern California – Division IV
Scores: St. Mary’s-Berkeley 59, Mercy 44; Linden 45, Corning 35; Marin Catholic 57, Santa Cruz 31; Modesto Christian 73, Central Valley 48.
Thursday’s matchup: Linden (25-7) vs. St. Mary’s (28-4) at Albany HS; Marin Catholic (24-6) at Modesto Christian (25-7).
Dribble: Impressive wins on the road by Marin Catholic and Linden. … Interesting to see six Northern California schools – Monte Vista, Branson, St. Mary’s-Berkeley, Modesto Christian, Sacred Heart Cathedral and Sacramento – still have two teams alive at this point. … St. Mary’s junior Danielle Mauldin (24 points) is one of the most physically imposing female players in Northern California. … She’s highly physical. … Leigh Stewart (18 points) led Marin Catholic.
Southern California – Division V
Scores: Bell-Jeff 79, Sierra Canyon 65; Fresno Christian 58, Christian Life 47; View Park 76, Vincent Memorial 23; Santa Clara 60, Coast Union 46.
Thursday’s matchup: Fresno Christian (23-5) at Bell-Jeff (31-1); Santa Clara (25-4) at View Park (27-8).
Dribble: Margeaux Gupilan had 27 and freshman Rishonda Napier added 20 for top-seed Bell-Jeff of Burbank in win over Sierra Canyon. … A 13-0 run to start the fourth quarter led Bell-Jeff to victory.
Northern California – Division V
Scores: Branson 49, Wilton Christian 22; Castilleja 51, Durham 33; Bradshaw Christian 62, Urban 53; Pinewood 72, Hamilton 47.
Thursday’s matchup: Castilleja (23-8) vs. Branson (29-3) at Redwood HS; Bradshaw Christian (28-4) at Pinewood (29-4).
Dribble: Good win on the road for Castilleja, which is trying to win a basketball title after claiming state volleyball crown. … All signs point here to another classic showdown between state veterans Branson and Pinewood. .. Branson, under coach Mike Fulton, has won the last two state crowns, Pinewood, under coach Doc Scheppler, won the previous two and three overall.
Information obtained from the San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, Orange County Register, San Diego Union-Tribune, Riverside Press-Enterprise and Los Angeles Times.
