SANTA ANA, Calif. - There has been speculation in the
Orange County Register that
Mater Dei (Santa Ana) boys basketball coach Gary McKnight might be retiring after this season. McKnight, who has been ailing all season following surgery on his Achilles tendon, said an off-hand remark was taken too literally. He wants to coach another 10 years, he said Thursday.
Keala King had 23 points on Thursday.
File photo by Louis Lopez
If his team continues to shoot the way that it did against Rancho Verde (Moreno Valley), it's easy to understand why McKnight would want to stick around.
The Monarchs, ranked No. 7 nationally in the Xcellent 25, made 32 of 63 shots from the field (50.8 percent) and 12 of 14 from the free throw line.
And yeah, they won easily. Mater Dei beat Rancho Verde, 80-48, in the second round of the Southern California Regional Division I playoffs. It was the type of performance Mater Dei had before going into a two-game funk that nearly cost it the Southern Section Division I-AA title. Mater Dei prevailed in that game against Etiwanda (Rancho Cucamonga), 68-65, but also suffered a slow start in the first round of regionals against Clovis Buchanan before pulling away for a 90-65 I victory.
Mater Dei's performance against Rancho Verde was a definitely a step forward. A 14-0 run that carried into the second quarter helped put the game on ice; it was part of a larger 24-4 run that made it 34-11.
It was reminiscent of the last time Mater Dei showed up in the first quarter, coincidentally against Rancho Verde in the semis when the Monarchs bolted to a 32-14 lead en route to a 94-58 victory.
UCLA-bound Tyler Lamb, who scored 21 and had five assists, said there is still room for improvement, but he was pleased with what he saw. “When we're running and gunning and hitting threes, that kills teams,” said Lamb, who certainly did his part to kill off any hopes Rancho Verde had for an upset. He scored seven of his team's first 11 points.
He had help. Keala King (Arizona State) scored 23, and Gary Franklin (California) scored 16. The three combined for 23 of 39 from the field (59 percent).
Mater Dei (31-1) will play host to fourth-seeded Taft (Woodland Hills) on Saturday. Taft (26-5) got a three-point basket from Bryce Jones as time expired to put the expiration date on Leuzinger (Lawndale), 66-63, and its 21-game winning streak.
The game Saturday at Mater Dei will be preceded by a girls' Division II game between second-seeded Mater Dei (29-1) and third-seeded Hanford (30-3).
Believe it or not, the Mater Dei girls, ranked No. 3 in the Xcellent 25, were the most impressive of the four teams that took the floor in the boy/girl doubleheader.
The Monarch girls made 18 of 30 from the field (60 percent) in the first half but rarely missed after the first five minutes as they dominated Villa Park, 75-35. The lead eventually reached 41 points in the second half, and the final 4 minutes 33 seconds was played with a running clock. Villa Park, by the way, went into the game ranked No. 22 in the state, down seven positions since a 63-38 loss to Brea Olinda in the Southern Section II-AA finals. As impressive as Brea looked in that victory, Mater Dei was even better on Thursday – certainly on offense.
Sophomore Jordan Adams had 11 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and three blocked shots, and Jessica Duarte scored 21. “Anyone who thinks Jordan Adams is overrated, I'd like to meet them,” Coach Kevin Kiernan said of recent internet criticism. “She's a really amazing player.”
The most impressive aspect of the victory over Villa Park was that Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis (Connecticut) had only two points at halftime but the Monarchs held a 49-20 lead.
“We're focused right now,” Coach Kevin Kiernan said after his team's second consecutive victory by 40 or more points. “We've come together the last couple of weeks.”
Notes from the Southern California Regionals
Boys: Down by a point with less than 10 seconds remaining, Long Beach Poly avenged its loss in the Southern Section semifinals with a 67-64 victory over third-seeded Etiwanda when Ryan Anderson scored inside. . . Jordin Mayes scored 20 as defending Division I state champion Westchester (Los Angeles) beat Santa Monica, 75-64. . . George Toyoma scored four of his eight points, and also had a steal, in the final minute of overtime to lead Pasadena past Murrieta Valley, 49-43, in Division II. . . . Anthony Brown (29) and Avery Johnson (24) combined for 53 points as Ocean View (Huntington Beach) ended Verdugo Hills's dream season, 65-53. Verdugo Hills hadn't even won a league title in 50 years before this season. . . . Centennial (Compton) came back from a 15-point second-half deficit to beat Orange Lutheran, 75-69, as Kurt Davis scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter. . . . Foothill (Santa Ana) missed 19 free throws and lost to Gahr (Cerritos), 82-79. . . . Casey Trujeque scored 12 of his 16 points during a critical run in the second half as top-seeded Price (Los Angeles) broke open a six-point game for a 68-42 victory over Oaks Christian (Westlake Village). . . . La Verne Lutheran came back from an 11-point first quarter deficit to beat Ribet Academy (Los Angeles), 77-75, as Bruce English scored 22 of his 25 points in the second half.
Girls: Brittany Wilson scored 18 as Long Beach Poly defeated Bakersfield Stockdale, 81-50, in Division I. . . . Sophomore Ashley Weissman of Summit (Fontana) scored 13 points, including two free throws on a technical foul that tied the score in the fourth quarter, and teammate Adrianne Thomas followed with a field goal in a 63-58 upset of fourth-seeded Corona Santiago. . . . Thea Lemberger of Santa Monica scored 20, including two free throws in the finals seconds to nail down a 59-56 overtime victory over Canyon Springs (Moreno Valley). . . . Kelsey Harris scored 14, but point guard Alexis Perry suffered a knee injury that might be season-ending in top-seeded Brea's 68-41 victory over Diamond Ranch (Pomona) in Division II. . . . Mater Dei beat Beverly Hills in the section's II-A semifinals, 80-63, but third-seeded Hanford absolutely destroyed Beverly Hills, 80-39. . . . Melissa Zornig scored 17 and top-seeded Santa Margarita held off Buena (Ventura), 42-39, in Division III. . . . Arielle Wideman scored 20 as Bishop Amat (La Puente) scored a 70-61 upset of fourth-seeded Agoura, which won its first 29 games but lost two of its last three. . . . Top-seeded Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood) advanced in Division IV as Skylar Tsutsui made two free throws with 5.3 seconds remaining to beat Bell-Jeff (Burbank), 61-59. . . . Bishop Montgomery (Torrance) watched its 11-point fourth quarter lead dwindle to two against The Bishop's (La Jolla) before Devon Brookshire (20 points) and Kristen Ale converted free throws in the final seconds of a 69-65 victory.
