SoCalHoops High School News

CIF-SS Boys Division I-A Final:
Mater Dei 53, Simi Valley 39--(Mar. 5, 2000)

Who:  No. 1 Mater Dei (32-1) v. No. 3 Simi Valley (28-4)
Where: The Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim
When:  8:45 p.m.
What:  CIF Southern Section Division I-A Championship

Mater Dei won. . . Some might have said it was predictable, but the manner in which the Monarchs shut down Simi's top two scorers was remarkable, as Branduinn Fullove shot only 2 for 20 and Brett Michel went 1 for 11.  Together, they combined for just 12 points, which is about 38 points below their collective season average.    Dustin Villepigue manged to get 13 points, but he was the only Pioneer in double figures as Mater Dei broke out to an 18-10 first quarter lead and never realy looked back. Mater Dei jumped out an 11-0 lead before Simi ever scored, and from the opening tip, this game was never in close.  First Jamal Sampson slammed it home, then Mikey Strawberry hit an inside shot, and Cedric Bozeman made a layup in transition, Rickey Porter hit another inside shot and then Steve Scoggin (who announced that he has verballed to UNLV) hit a three pointer, and Simi never knew what hit them. Cedric Bozeman led the Monarchs in that first quarter with six points, but the second quarter belonged to Mater Dei 6-foot-11 junior Jamal Sampson. He scored six in the second quarter to give him 10 for the first half. Sampson also had five blocked shots, 11 rebounds and eight blocks as Mater Dei took a 28-17 lead into halftime. Sampson had a team high 17 points, but Bozeman, who finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds  led the team from start to finish, making things happen, and while Sampson was chosen as the "Player of the Game"  by the collective media, it could as easily have been Bozeman.   Sampson also had 18 rebounds, and 8 blocked shots;  Simi's Dustin Villepigue had just one block, the only one for Simi in the game. This was the second year in a row Mater Dei has stopped Simi cold.  Last year, in a semifinal game played at the Bren Center, Simi knocked the Pioneers out of it.  This year, Mater Dei defeated Simi at the Nike Tournament in Torrey Pines. It was the first time the Pioneers had been in a CIF Section final since 1993. Mike Strawberry, who had six points and nine rebounds, clogged the inside and he and Porter really stopped Michel and Fullove from scoring.  Simi Valley's only charge came in the third quarter when the Pioneers put together an 8-0 run capped by Fullove's three-pointer. That cut Mater Dei's lead to 32-27, but Simi Valley couldn't get back to within five points until the fourth quarter. The Pioneers never got any closer.

Steve Fryer in today's Orange County Register also compiled some interesting stats on Mater Dei:  The school has now won 14 section championships; only five California schools have won more. The Monarchs, now at 32-1, have won 30 or more games 11 times, a state record.  McKnight's winning percentage of .918 is the highest of any boys basketball coach in California high school history. His lifetime record in 18 seasons at Mater Dei is 539-48.  Mater Dei probably get the No. 1 seed in the Divison I State Regionals, although it might go to Poly, but with a better record overall Mater Dei will likely get the top spot. We're guessing that Simi will probably open on the road against the Division I winnner from either Fresno, Clovis West, or the D-I winner from San Diego, although if the commitee is "nice" to them, they may get one of the runners-up, possibly Crenshaw.

Here's the box score:

Mater Dei (53)

Total FG             1st Half     13/26   500     2nd Half     9/27     333    Game     22/53   415
3PT FG              1st Half    1/7       143       2nd Half    0/6        000    Game      1/13    077
Free Throws    1st Half    1/2         500     2nd Half     7/15    467     Game      8/17    471

Simi Valley (39)

Total FG             1st Half     6/28  214  2nd Half    6/296      276   Game    14/57     246
3PT FG              1st Half    1/10  100  2nd Half    2/13        154    Game      3/23     130
Free Throws    1st Half    4/6    667   2nd Half    4/7           571   Game      8/13     615

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