SoCalHoops Playoff News

CIF-SS II-AA Championship:   Mater Dei
Takes It Out On The Dogs--(Mar. 3, 2002)

CIF-SS Division II-AA Boy's Championship Game

Mater Dei 65, Pasadena 49

What's the old phrase?  Don't kick a dog when he's down?  Let sleeping dogs lie?  A dog's bark is sometimes worse than his bite?

How about "Hey, look what that dog did on the floor....get busy and clean it up!"

We're probably being a bit hard on the Pasadena Bulldogs, but probably no harder than they were on themselves last night against Mater Dei, as they shot only .288 from the field, committed 11 turnovers (officially), and their two star players went 3 for 14  and 7 for 23, respectively from the field in the loss.    Pasadena picked a really bad time to have a bad game.

We don't mean to be harsh with the Bulldogs, and actually we've been kind of tough on Pasadena all year, consistently underrating the team, putting them lower than they obviously deserved to be in our weekly SoCalHoops polls each time we issued a new one.  We had not ranked them at No. 2 until really late in the season, but yesterday's outing proved that this was definitely a No. 2 team, and we're not ashamed to admit that we've been wrong not to notice it sooner.  Likewise, it's equally obvious that we've also been underestimating Mater Dei all season long too, having trouble getting past those four early season losses, and we didn't realize how much better the No. 1 team in this division was than the No. 2 team until yesterday.

Like some of the other games, we've already provided the basic details in our updates on the message board yesterday live from the Pond.  We could go on and on about how this game was played, but we honestly don't have much good to say about it.  It was ugly, and not just because Pasadena couldn't hit the broad side of the backboard, but because, well, it was just an ugly game. 

The leading scorers were Harrison Schaen with 9 points and 13 rebounds for Mater Dei, Wesley Washington with 20, and Mike Strawberry with 18 points.   And despite shooting just 7-23, Dino Wilburn of Pasadena still somehow managed to be the game's high scorer with 22 points..... No one else on the Pasadena team came even close to breaking double-digits

Here's the box score, followed by the stories from some of the local media's best.

Visitors:  Mater Dei

Home: Pasadena

Mater Dei    19    11     9    26--65
Pasadena     11     6     6     26--49 

The first look at the game from one of the professionals who gets paid to watch these guys play is from Dan Albano at the Orange County Register, for that unique Mater Dei perspective on the game. The original story can be found at this link:

Mater Dei's defense delivers title
The Monarchs hold second-seeded Pasadena to 29 percent shooting.
March 3, 2002
By DAN ALBANO
The Orange County Register

ANAHEIM -- Mater Dei's boys basketball team devotes one-half of its practices to defense and nothing else. It's that high of a priority.

And it's a good thing, too.

The Monarchs' hard work on the defensive end paid off Saturday night with their 65-49 victory against Pasadena in the CIF-Southern Section Division II-AA championship at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim.

"It does pay off," said Mater Dei assistant coach Jason Quinn, the former Monarchs standout guard who is now the architect of the Monarchs' stingy man-to-man defense.

The top-ranked Monarchs (27-4) won their 20th consecutive game and fourth consecutive section crown by holding second-seeded Pasadena (26-5) to 29 percent shooting from the floor. Pasadena shot 21 percent (6 of 28) in the first half.

Mater Dei played its best defense in the second and third quarters as Pasadena tallied only six points in each quarter.

Pasadena standout guard Dino Wilburn scored a game-high 22 points but had only five points as Mater Dei walked off the court at halftime with a 30-17 lead. Wilburn finished 7 of 23.

"They played awesome defense," Pasadena coach Tim Tucker said.

"They fought through picks. I thought they were holding a little bit."

Mater Dei's defense locked on Wilburn, a 6-foot-3 senior. Guard Trevante Nelson and forward D.J. Strawberry took turns covering Wilburn. Quinn said the key was denying Wilburn the ball.

The Monarchs also played good help defense on Wilburn, who averages 21.0 points.

"Defense has been the theme for us this year," said Strawberry, the Monarchs' designated defensive stopper who had two blocked shots.

Mike Strawberry said the Monarchs' defense also tried to throw Wilburn off his game with some trash talking.

"We talked to him a little to get in his head," said Strawberry, who had three steals and a blocked shot to go along with 18 points.

Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said the Monarchs will have to continue playing strong defense to be successful in the Southern California Regionals.

"For us to be successful, we have to play good defense," McKnight said.

FRESHMAN MAKES POINT

Mater Dei's starting freshman point guard, Mike Gerrity, earned more impressive reviews Saturday.

The 5-foot-11 Gerrity had eight assists and two turnovers in 24 minutes. He didn't commit his first turnover until 4:34 left in the fourth.

"I thought he played more like a junior or senior tonight," Tucker said. "He set the table well."

Gerrity's highlight assist was a bounce pass to Wesley Washington on a back door cut early in the fourth quarter.

Washington took the pass for a dunk.

"He's something else," McKnight said.

---

The Pasadena Star-News quite obviously also covers the Pasadena High School Bulldogs on a regular basis, and the paper also has a great Preps section.  Keven Chavez, their staff writer who has covered PHS all season was at the Pond yesterday and he had this view of the game (which you can find at the Star-News at this link, along with some other great prep coverage and some photos of the game as well).

PHS sees dream end
CIF Boys Basketball Championship

By Keven Chavez
Staff Writer

ANAHEIM -- Even in the land of Snow White and Cinderella, there was no fairy-tale ending for the Pasadena High School boys basketball team on Saturday night.

Instead, it was Mater Dei that lived happily ever after -- or at least happily enough to win its 10th divisional championship in the past 11 seasons.

Pasadena fell victim to the deeper, more experienced Monarchs and suffered a 65-49 defeat in the CIF-Southern Section Division II-AA championship in front of 7,845 at The Pond.

Mater Dei has made a living playing big games on the big stage. The Monarchs made themselves right at home by scoring nine of the game's first 10 points and never trailed.

The Bulldogs, who were playing in their first championship game since 1995, seemed out of sync and uncomfortable in The Pond's vast surroundings.

"We challenged early but just couldn't make adjustments to the arena," Pasadena Coach Tim Tucker said. "When we finally did, the game was over."

Pasadena remained within striking distance for most of the first half. The Bulldogs trailed just 19-13 after Dino Wilburn opened the second quarter with a putback.

But a combination of poor shooting and Mater Dei's relentless defense on Wilburn, Pasadena's leading scorer, spelled doom for the Bulldogs (26-5).

"They had a heckuva game plan to guard Dino Wilburn," Tucker said. "Every time he went to the hole, they came at them with two or three guys."

Mater Dei's Travonte' Nelson and D.J. Strawberry, a transfer from Blair, rotated with full-court pressure on Wilburn. The senior guard made just two of his 10 field goal attempts in the first half.

"We tried to face-guard (Wilburn)," Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. "Travonte' and D.J. did an outstanding job of pestering him and making him work."

Pasadena struggled to find a rhythm without its offensive sparkplug and even went 11 consecutive possessions in the second quarter without a point.

"They made me work harder than ever to get the ball," Wilburn said. "They had a good game plan on me; I didn't think it would be like that."

Still, Pasadena played solid defense of its own. Point guard Duwan Rice led the team with four steals and PHS trailed by just 13 at halftime. But with a chance to chip away at Mater Dei's lead in the third quarter, Pasadena made just two of 11 free-throw attempts. In the game, Pasadena made just 10 of 28 attempts.

"I'm glad they didn't shoot well from the free-throw line because it would have been a heckuva game," McKnight said.

The Monarchs (27-4) used a deep rotation of big men to control the boards and get Pasadena's frontcourt in foul trouble. PHS center MacKenzie Clark and forward Imani Leonard picked up three fouls apiece in the first half and eventually fouled out.

Mater Dei outrebounded Pasadena, 44-28.

"We weren't really focused mentally," said Clark, who was held to just six points and five rebounds. "(The Monarchs are) smart and know how to play good basketball."

Junior guard Wesley Washington led Mater Dei with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Mike Strawberry had 18 points.

Wilburn led all scorers with 22 points -- 14 in the fourth quarter. Pasadena's starting backcourt of Rice and Wilburn combined for 10-of-39 shooting.

"We came out a little timid, our first time being here," Rice said. "We didn't play the way we usually play."

Mater Dei and Pasadena will both advance to next week's CIF-State Southern California Regional Division II tournament. The Bulldogs will play Wednesday on the road against an opponent to be determined.

Pasadena already is hoping to get a second chance at Mater Dei.

"All we got to do is win two," Wilburn said. "They spoiled our championship; now we want to spoil theirs."

"I could see us playing Pasadena again in two weeks," McKnight said.

PHS' defense forced 18 Mater Dei turnovers. Wilburn and Rice had two steals apiece.

-- Keven Chavez can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4485, or at keven.chavez@sgvn.com.

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