PREP BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : 5-A Semifinals : Mater Dei Defies Expectations and Upholds Tradition With Win

Mater Dei High School, in what is becoming as regular a spring occurrence as arbitration, advanced to its sixth straight Southern Section 5-A final with an 87-70 victory over St. Bernard Wednesday at Ocean View High.

Most irregular was the way the Monarchs went about winning. They outran and outshot a team supposedly faster and more adept at scoring; they saw a 6-foot 10-inch figure in the key and he wasn’t wearing a Mater Dei uniform, and their Go-To guy was a pudgy block of a point guard who scored 29 points.

This is the Mater Dei team that couldn’t. It’s hard to win when you’re playing against the past. Judged against Monarch teams of the past, this team had been judged too slow, too small and seemed destined to fade into a shadow five seasons long.

“We’ve had to live up to the reputation of the past all year,” said point guard Mark Ramstack. “But we’re tired of hearing about the past. We weren’t supposed to be good enough. But we have enough talent to get to the final. This is our team.”

It was Ramstack, a dribbling blocking sled, who cut and tore through St. Bernard’s defense all game. He scored 29 points, penetrating into the key against with surprising ease.

St. Bernard features a front line of Ed Stokes, a 6-10 center, and forward Eric Nelson, an exceptional athlete who has signed to play football at UCLA. But Ramstack kept getting in. He made 8 of 9 shots and 13 free throws.

“If Mark Ramstack was right here, I’d kiss him,” said forward Kevin Rembert. “He dealt it tonight.”

With Ramstack setting the tempo, Mater Dei cut a pace that seemed too fast. It shot quick, it shot long, it shot as fast as it could get the ball up court. So constant was the barrage of shots, even Gary McKnight, Mater Dei coach, seemed stunned.

“We scored 87 points, I’m amazed,” he said. “We’re a team that likes to score in the 50s.”

Mater Dei hit 50 midway through the third quarter. Led by Ramstack and guard Dylan Rigdon, who scored 25 points, Mater Dei shot over a St. Bernard zone helpless to do anything but watch balls go by and in.

“They shot us right out of the zone,” said Jim McClune, St. Bernard coach.

It might have been that St. Bernard shot itself out of the game. The Vikings had a 19-18 lead after the first quarter and trailed, 33-31, at the half. The Vikings pushed the ball inside to Stokes and Nelson on the low blocks whenever they could, virtually every time down the court.

Shooting from down close, Stokes and Nelson combined for 26 of St. Bernard’s 31 first-half points. But in the third quarter, Nelson disappeared--he didn’t attempt a shot, didn’t get a rebound. Stokes shot, but was now taking his shots standing near the top of the key.

St. Bernard began the majority of its shots from the outside. It became a duel of outside shooting with Mater Dei winning. The Monarchs made 9 of 13 shots to St. Bernard’s 6 of 12. Mater Dei outscored St. Bernard, 25-17, to take a 58-48 lead by the end of the quarter.

Asked why his team went from the very effective inside game to outside, McClune could only offer: “I don’t know.”

St. Bernard cut that lead to 58-52 early in the fourth quarter, but a 10-0 run by Mater Dei made it 68-52 and put Mater Dei into Saturday’s 5-A final against Angelus League rival Bishop Amat.

“I think this game puts it in a lot of people’s faces,” said Rembert, who scored 15 points. “No one expected this.”