St. Monica Blocks Alemany Playoff Path With 64-55 Win in 5-A

First-round playoff games are usually mismatches. A league champion is pitted against a third or fourth place team, and by the second half fans are suppressing yawns.

Alemany High trailed from start to finish Friday night against St. Monica and lost 64-55 in a first-round Southern Section 5-A game. Typical, right?

Wrong. Terribly wrong for the fans packed into Alemany’s gym.

Alemany (18-7) was champion of the Del Rey league. St. Monica (19-6) was the third place representative from the Camino Real League. All of which says something about the relative strengths of the two leagues.

Jason Matthews, a 6-2 guard who has already signed with Pittsburgh, scored 22 points for St. Monica, mostly from somewhere near the Mojave Desert. Had a three-point rule been in effect, he would have had 30 points.

And Matthews wasn’t the most impressive Mariner. Brian Williams, a 6-10 walking windmill, blocked 9 shots, scored 17 points and had 16 rebounds.

The only consolation for Alemany was that Matthews point total and Williams point and rebound totals were all less than their season averages.

As for Williams’ blocks, well, he averages nine a game. Several he had Friday were more than merely blocked. They were wrapped, stamped and marked, “Return to Sender.”

Said Alemany center Bill Lucid, who gave up four inches to Williams: “When I shot, there was that little thought in the back of my mind that he was going to send it into the fourth row.”

St. Monica sped to an 8-0 lead in less than two minutes and and led, 17-9, after one quarter.

“That 8-0 didn’t help us at all,” Alemany Coach Joe Anlauf said. “We were too nervous and tight. None of our guys had ever played in a playoff game before.”

The Indians, however, proved scrappy. Forward and captain Dave Swanson, a hard-nosed type who occasionally spits on the hardwood as if he were on a baseball diamond, led Alemany back into the game. The Indians pulled to within five points by halftime and came within one, 43-42, early in the fourth quarter.

“I honestly believed we would win until the buzzer sounded,” said Swanson, who led Alemany with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

The Indians were as hot as red-skin potatoes fresh out of the skillet early in the fourth period. After sophomore Joehn Beachemin hit two free throws to pull Alemany within five at the end jof the third period, Swanson hit two free throws and Beachemin sank a 10-foot jumper.

Matthews, who is fourth in the Southern Section with an average of 27.2 points a game, drilled a 25-footer, two free throws and a 20-footer in succession, however, and St. Monica led, 49-42.

Matthews, who made 10 of 25 field goal attempts, was cold most of the second and third quarters. That’s when Williams took over, soaring for three slam dunks and sinking several fall-away shots in the key.

“I told Brian to just let go,” Klemm said. “He’s been tentative on offense and I said just let it fly. Like a baseball pitche, he’s less effective when he gets too cute.”