Mater Dei Thoroughbreds Outrun Notre Dame, 76-66

Notre Dame High’s Mick Cady sounded more like a Santa Anita handicapper than a basketball coach after his team lost to Mater Dei, 76-66, in the first round of the Southern Section 5-A Division playoffs Friday night at Notre Dame.

“If you look at their horses, and you look at our horses,” Cady said, “I’m really happy with our performance.”

Not exactly the brimming confidence that wins the Kentucky Derby but understandable since the Knights (13-10) were clearly outmanned against Mater Dei, the defending state Division I champion.

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After falling behind by 10 points early, Notre Dame charged back, cutting the deficit to two points. But instead of faltering, Mater Dei stormed ahead once again behind the shooting of guard Mike Hopkins.

Hopkins came off the bench to score a game-high 26 points, including 14 in the second quarter when Mater Dei outscored Notre Dame, 22-14.

“That broke our back, that kid coming out and hitting those shots,” Cady said. “Every time we crept back, they hit another three-pointer.”

The Monarchs (18-7) went on an early 12-2 run and led, 16-9, at the beginning of the second quarter. Notre Dame forced three consecutive turnovers, however, to close to within two points before Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight called a timeout and Hopkins, who will attend Syracuse next year, entered the game.

“We were throwing the ball away and just got careless. We got the guys to settle down,” McKnight said. “And Hopkins keyed that second quarter when he got hot.”

Notre Dame cut a 15-point halftime deficit to 10 at the start of the third quarter, but Hopkins scored four consecutive points and the Monarchs’ Dillon Rigdon made a three-point shot at the end of the quarter to give Mater Dei a 55-42 lead.

“That was a downer,” Notre Dame center Ed Cogan said. “After good pressure on our part, they just made those three pointers.”

Mater Dei maintained a 10- to 15-point lead for the rest of the game thanks to tight defense on Notre Dame’s top scorers and strong play from the Monarch’s two post men.

Mater Dei forward Kevin Rembert had 17 points--including two thunderous dunks--and Char Ruppel added 13.

“They were beating us downstairs and we went downstairs to stop them,” Cady said. “And then they went outside and we went outside. Downstairs, outside, downstairs.”

Notre Dame center Ed Cogan scored a team-high 20 points, including 11 in the fourth quarter before fouling out with 1:03 to play.

“I didn’t think he was that offensive of a player,” McKnight said. “He did an excellent job.”

Cady agreed. “Cogan had a great game. Those are the two best post players we’ve seen and he scored 20 points.”

Cogan, a senior center, was pleased with his performance, but wished it had rubbed off on the team.

“Too bad it couldn’t help us out,” Cogan said. “I was determined. We gave it our best shot, we played well.”

Kenny Hicks, who leads the Knights in scoring with an average of 16.5 points a game, scored 14. Teammate Brian Jones added 19.

Rembert also was responsible for slowing Hicks, a 6-4 junior. Hicks made only 6 of 16 field-goal attempts and did not score in the fourth quarter.