5-A PREP BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Mater Dei Advances as Hopkins Scores 26

Notre Dame High School’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 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 still understandable. The Knights (13-10) were clearly outmanned against Mater Dei, the defending state Division I champion.

After falling behind by 10 points early in the game, Notre Dame charged back, cutting the lead to two points. But instead of faltering, Mater Dei stormed ahead once again, usually 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 lead, 16-9, at the start 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, came in.

“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.”

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

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