Prep Basketball Roundup : Saddleback to Play Mater Dei Again

Saddleback High School has faced Mater Dei twice in the past 4 years and each time the teams have gone into double overtime before the outcome was decided.

Mater Dei defeated Saddleback in the Orange tournament 4 years ago and then repeated with a victory in the Newport-Costa Mesa tournament last season.

The teams will meet Monday night in the championship game of the Newport-Costa Mesa tournament after convincing wins Saturday in the semifinals. Saddleback breezed past El Toro, 60-46, and Mater Dei scored 10 unanswered points in the final quarter en route to a 62-52 victory over Trabuco Hills.

Center Malru Dottin scored 23 points and had 11 rebounds to lead Saddleback to its third consecutive victory of the season. The Roadrunners broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring a good El Toro team by 12 points.

Trabuco Hills presented some big problems--namely 6-foot 10-inch center Rick Swanwick--for Mater Dei and held a 49-48 lead with 2:39 to play. But Swanwick fouled out at this point with 18 points and 20 rebounds, and Mater Dei answered with 10 points in a row.

Mater Dei made 11 of 13 free throws in the final quarter to offset a poor shooting night. The Monarchs were a cool 21 of 67 (31%) from the field but it didn’t stop Coach Gary McKnight from celebrating his 170th victory in a little over 6 seasons.

In other Newport-Mesa tournament action:

University 59, Cypress 57--Shane Wolfe scored on a baseline drive with 31 seconds remaining to give University (1-1) the victory at Newport Harbor High School.

In the Orange Lutheran tournament:

Orange Lutheran 73, Southern California Christian 59--Pat Bagatourian, the tournament most valuable player, scored 28 points and had 10 rebounds to lead the Lancers (3-0) in the championship game.

Cal Lutheran 90, San Diego Lutheran 70--Todd Moe had 22 points to lead Cal Lutheran (2-1) to the consolation championship.