Orange Holiday Tournament : Capistrano Valley and Mater Dei Post Easy Wins to Set Up Showdown

The long-anticipated showdown between Mater Dei and Capistrano Valley high schools will finally become a reality on Monday night in the championship game of the Orange Holiday Classic.

Both teams posted easy wins in the semifinals at Hutton Sports Center on Saturday night to set up the battle between Orange County’s top two teams. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30.

Capistrano Valley missed an opportunity to play the Monarchs last week when Santa Monica guard Carrick DeHart made a 40-foot shot at the buzzer to beat the Cougars in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions.

This time, the Cougars assured themselves a chance at ending Mater Dei’s 41-game winning streak by easily defeating Marina, 74-53. Mater Dei kept rolling with a 62-48 win over Santa Clara in the nightcap.

Capistrano Valley (11-1) put Marina away in the third quarter by outscoring the Vikings, 22-8. Marina has played all week without its coach, Steve Popovich, who is at home with pneumonia. It was probably just as well as the Vikings were no match for Capistrano Valley.

Forward Shawn Reed continued his great shooting with another standout performance. He made 10 of 13 shots through three quarters and finished with 23 points. Forward Jason Trask played his best game of the year, scoring 16 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.

Point guard Nathan Call ran the offense smoothly and finished with 14 points. All of which could present plenty of problems for Mater Dei.

The Monarchs (12-0) have never lost to a county school under Coach Gary McKnight. They should present some problems of their own to Capistrano Valley, especially the way forward Stuart Thomas has played lately.

Thomas scored 25 points against Santa Clara and missed only three shots. Teammate LeRon Ellis added 12 points and the duo combined for 18 rebounds.

“It will be a classic matchup,” McKnight said. “You’ll see eight, Division I players on the court. It’s the two best teams in the county playing each other, and that’s the way it should be.”

McKnight wasn’t overplaying the collection of talent that will take the court on Monday night. Last summer, he formed an all-star team of players from Mater Dei and Capistrano Valley, and the team won the national high school championship at Phoenix.

SANTA CLARA (48)--Fancher 8, Jones 10, Bock 4, Gonzales 2, Santana 19, Velthoen 3, Webster 2.

MATER DEI (62)--Thomas 25, Ellis 12, Mounce 5, Peabody 8, Patton 2, Rembert 7, Quigley 4.

MARINA (53)--Guild 11, Quinn 4, Georgeson 11, Meyers 10, Craft 6, Hayslette 5, Sterzer 4, Sanders 2.

CAPISTRANO VALLEY (74)--Trask 16, Reed 23, Waikle 9, Call 14, Balagot 2, Davey 5, Montes 4, Wend 1.

Saddleback 68, Orange 52--Guard Bryant Walton scored 21 points to lead the Roadrunners into the fifth-place game.

ORANGE (52)--Adams 4, Dowell 12, Holman 12, Roth 22, J. Smith 2.

SADDLEBACK (68)--Alonzo 17, Butler 2, Deal 9, Dottin 16, Walton 21, Hanson 1, Ontiveros 2.

Fountain Valley 32, Dana Hills 30--The Barons improved to 7-5 and will meet Saddleback for fifth place at 3:30 on Monday.

FOUNTAIN VALLEY (32)--Ashcraft 2, Gordon 6, Hanson 16, Johnson 4, Waite 2, Wessler 2.

DANA HILLS (30)--Cmelak 5, Crawford 2, Duby 6, Esteban 5, Loyd 2, Lyon 10.

Foothill 67, El Modena 40--Guard Derek Johnson scored 21 points as the Knights beat their Century League rivals.

EL MODENA (40)--Ahart 6, Coghil 2, DeFeo 6, Degree 4, Ervin 6, Hamlin 8, Matlock 2, Rycraw 4, Steingrabber 2.

FOOTHILL (67)--Ford 3, Grahovic 14, Johnson 21, Jordan 6, Rasmussen 4, Schlines 15, Troutt 4.

Westminster 67, Lakewood 52--Guard Tom Dever followed his 23-point performance on Friday with a 28-point outburst on Saturday to move the Lions into the consolation championship at 5:10 on Monday.

LAKEWOOD (52)--Brown 4, Cheeks 5, Cooper 16, Crooker 4, Lewis 2, Robinson 2, Vitwar 3, Ward 2, Wise 14.

WESTMINSTER (67)--Austin 5, Bertini 1, Cabias 14, Chiasson 13, Dever 28, Smith 6.