In the end, OL’s victory was more flashpoint than flashback

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Coach Tony Matson said that Orange Lutheran‘s 40-34 Trinity League victory Tuesday over No. 13 Mater Dei was the biggest in the program’s history.

Mater Dei (16-3) led after the first quarter, 4-0, but Matson said it had more to do with good defense than anything else.

‘The score looked like a girls’ basketball game from the early ‘80s,’ said Matson, who has had nine consecutive winning seasons since taking over the program. ‘Even after that quarter, there was good basketball going on. You couldn’t get a good look at the basket. People were in your face everywhere.’

There were two critical junctures for Lutheran (13-4). Trailing by 11, Tejah Snell closed the quarter with a three-pointer and Alyssa Shinto opened the fourth with another one. Matson held foul-plagued point guard Veronica Beaver out of the game until 4 1/2 minutes were left. When she entered, she broke the Mater Dei press three consecutive times, leading to OL layups and the lead.

Three of the five teams in the Trinity League are in The Times top 25, including Santa Margarita.

‘It was a nice win, to say the little guy can get it done, too,’ said Matson, whose squad plays No. 25 JSerra tonight/Thursday at 7 p.m. ‘I had 10 coaches call me to congratulate me. Part of it is that they know, for whatever reason, the next few years Mater Dei is going to get every player, so coaches are finding every pothole in the road to say ‘Good job.’ They know that’s going to happen. Mater Dei is a huge institution in all sports, so whenever one of us beats them, we’re all kind of happy about it.’

-- Martin Henderson