Tournament of Champions : Mater Dei, Santa Monica Gain Final With Wins

The key to Santa Ana Mater Dei High School’s advance to tonight’s title game in the Tournament of Champions was a 12-3 streak at the end of the second quarter, but Fairfax Coach Harvey Kitani saw things differently.

“It was just a matter of our inability to execute on offense,” Kitani said after his Lions lost to Mater Dei, 57-52, in a semifinal game Friday night at Cal Poly Pomona.

Fairfax hit 49% of its shots, but scored only 10 points in the final eight minutes after pulling within one point, 43-42, at the end of the third quarter. Sean Higgins, playing with three fouls for all of the second half, made 9 of 19 shots to finish with a team-high 20 points.

Higgins left the game after picking up foul No. 3 with 4:35 remaining in the first half, and that’s when Mater Dei (8-0) made its big run. The Monarchs, two-time champions, went from three points down, 23-20, to a 32-26 lead at halftime.

Fairfax (6-1) reversed its slide and got back into the game in the third quarter, which, not coincidentally, is when Higgins did, too.

But Mater Dei (8-0) again took command. A Stuart Thomas rebound and basket and a three-point play by LeRon Ellis, combined with a couple of Fairfax turnovers, gave the Monarchs a lead they would never relinquish.

In the other championship semifinal, Capistrano Valley held a 51-50 lead with 24 seconds to play in the game, but the lead changed hands twice more, once with three seconds left, before Carrick DeHart swished a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to give Santa Monica the win, 54-53.

Santa Monica (6-1) will play Mater Dei at 8:30 tonight for the championship. Capistrano Valley dropped to 7-1.

Huntington Beach Ocean View 55, Playa del Rey St. Bernard 45--Coming off the upset loss Wednesday at the hands of Capistrano Valley, Ocean View shot 62% from the field in the second half to advance to the fifth-place game.

Inglewood 42, Compton Dominguez 32--Inglewood led by only one point going into the fourth quarter, 27-26, but outscored its foe, 15-6, in the final eight minutes and meets Ocean View today.

Verbum Dei 62, Encino Crespi 56--Returning All-Southern Section selection David Jones scored 20 points and Kevin Williams added 18 to lead the Eagles into the consolation final. Jason Turner had 20 for Crespi.

Long Beach St. Anthony 61, Long Beach Poly 57--In the other consolation semifinal, the Saints used only six players, but they shot 65% in the second half and had four score in double figures. Osei Appiah scored 23 on 10-of-14 shooting for Poly.