Orange County Sports / Prep Basketball : Angelus League : Mater Dei’s 30-Point Lead Just Enough : Monarchs Run Away From St. Paul, Are Nearly Caught Before Winning, 83-66

Mater Dei High School’s 83-66 Angelus League victory over St. Paul Friday night at Chapman College was a wild one.

It was wild because of the style of play and also because Mater Dei let a 30-point lead evaporate to just 13 points in 1 minute 45 seconds.

St. Paul (16-5 overall, 5-3 in league play) got Mater Dei to play its faster, more wide-open game. And, early on, it was successful in keeping the Monarchs, who like to play a slower, more patient offense, off balance.

With the win, Mater Dei kept pace with league-leading Bishop Amat, a 92-65 winner over Bishop Montgomery Friday night.

Mater Dei (16-5, 7-1) struggled to hold on to the ball in the first half and led, 30-27, at the end of the half. The Monarchs’ biggest lead was four points, and it appeared that the game would be close throughout.

“In the first half it seemed like both teams made a lot of mistakes,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “And no one was scoring for long stretches.”

However, Mater Dei outscored St. Paul, 29-12, in the third quarter to break the game open. St. Paul just couldn’t find its shooting touch and found itself trailing, 59-39.

Kevin Rembert, a senior forward who had 15 points, and Mark Ramstack, a senior point guard, made the play of the game, giving Mater Dei a 20-point lead.

As time was running out in the third quarter, Ramstack, standing at halfcourt, threw a lob pass to Rembert, who laid the ball in as the buzzer sounded.

Dylan Rigdon, a junior guard, also scored 15 points for Mater Dei.

In the fourth quarter, Mater Dei stretched the lead to 30, 75-45, with 3:45 left.

With the game apparently in hand, McKnight cleared the bench, replacing the starters with little-used reserves.

At that point, the score was 77-54 and there was only 1:57 left, but then the reserves came unraveled and St. Paul got hot.

Behind four three-point shots by St. Paul guard John Guerrero, the Swordsmen trimmed the lead to 13, 79-66, with 1:12 left.

Guerrero had a game-high 20 points to lead St. Paul.

Mater Dei called timeout and McKnight, taking no chances, put the starters back in the game.

“They outscored us, 12-3; you have to be worried,” McKnight said.

St. Bernard 75, Servite 57--Derron Brown scored 20 points and 6-10 center Ed Stokes added 16 to lead St. Bernard (15-7, 4-4) at Servite. Servite guard Brian Kenney scored 29 points. He was the only Servite player to score in double figures. Kenney scored 18 of Servite’s 24 second-half points. Servite is 11-10, 1-7.