Orange County Prep Basketball : Ellis Scores 31, but Gets Plenty of Help as Mater Dei Beats Bishop Amat

Bishop Amat Coach Alex Acosta found out Wednesday night that there is more to Mater Dei High School than LeRon Ellis. Much more.

Ellis scored 31 points and dominated the inside, but it was the Monarchs’ perimeter shooting that allowed them to cruise to a 70-53 Angelus League victory at Bishop Amat.

Mater Dei (5-0, 18-1) has 47 consecutive league victories.

“I really didn’t think they could shoot as well as they can,” Acosta said. “I mean, you can’t expect to stop Ellis, but I didn’t give their outside shooters enough credit.”

Mater Dei put the game away by shooting 68% in the first half. John Stephens, who came off the bench to score 10 points, was particularly effective from long range and helped the Monarchs build a lead that reached 15 points with 3:35 left in the half.

Mater Dei was without starting guard Mike Hopkins, who suffered a stress fracture in his right foot Tuesday at practice and will miss at least two weeks. Kevin Rembert had 15 rebounds, but wasn’t much of an offensive threat because of early foul trouble.

That left the scoring responsibility to Ellis, whose consecutive slam dunks off alley-oop passes gave the Monarchs a 54-34 lead with two minutes left.

“We had a lot of people contribute tonight and that was key,” said Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight, whose team will play four of its five remaining league games at home. “We’re 5-0, which feels great. Hopefully everyone else will beat each other.”

Bishop Amat (2-3, 14-7) was led by guard Stephon Pace, who scored 17 points.

The Lancers, who haven’t beaten Mater Dei since 1978, played the Monarchs tough at the outset. Bishop Amat was leading, 14-13, with two minutes left in the first quarter before Mater Dei went on a 9-0 run.

Servite 57, St. Bernard 55 (OT)--Nick Marusich scored 15 points and Tony Smalley added 14 to lead the Friars. Shawn Sullivan added 10 points for the Friars.

In the Century League:

Foothill 80, El Modena 57--Doug Kopcha scored 19 points and Bill Mazurie scored 17 to lead the Knights. Chris Aqueveque had 14 assists for the Knights (5-1 in league) at Foothill.

Canyon 69, Villa Park 61--David Jones scored 20 points and Paul James added 14 to lead the Comanches (4-1, 9-9) at Villa Park. Canyon outscored the Spartans, 20-14, in the final quarter.

Santa Ana 63, Santa Ana Valley 54--Jeff Stewart scored 24 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Saints (4-1, 15-6) at Santa Ana. Brett Beale and Roshawn Lacy led the Falcons (2-3, 6-12) with 14 points each.

In the Empire League:

Los Alamitos 66, El Dorado 49--Moe Warner scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds and Doug Wadleigh scored 12 to lead the Griffins (8-1, 15-4) at El Dorado. The Hawks (3-6, 7-10) were led by Brian Cardenas with 20 points and Chris Facione with 15.

Esperanza 49, Loara 48--Ross Harvey scored 17 points and Rich Gammalo added 12 to lead the Aztecs (4-5 in league) at Loara. Todd Eaton scored 10 points for the Saxons. Eaton was the only player to score in double figures for Loara (0-9, 2-14).

Katella 70, Cypress 56--Brett Smith scored 24 points and Tom Villaneuva added 18 to lead the Knights (9-0, 18-2) at Cypress. The Centurions (4-5, 7-11) hit only 7 of 31 first-half shots and trailed, 33-18. Frantz Reyes scored 22 for Cypress and grabbed 12 rebounds. Richard Lucas had 12 rebounds for Katella.

Kennedy 67, Pacifica 50--Danny Davidson scored 13 points and Wendell Lauderdale had 12 to lead the Irish (7-2, 12-6) at Pacifica. Davidson and Lauderdale each had six assists. Mike Short scored 19 for Pacifica (1-8 in league).

In the Orange League:

Valencia 60, Savanna 42--The Tigers outscored Savanna, 15-2, in the first quarter, and shot 65% from the field. Dennis Burbank led Valencia (4-1, 14-4) with 20 points and 13 rebounds. Robby Booker scored 12 points to lead Savanna (2-3 in league).

Anaheim 52, Western 48--Ernest Johnston had 18 points and 8 rebounds for Anaheim (1-4, 3-14). Will Jefferson led Western (0-5, 8-10) at Anaheim.