PREP WEDNESDAY : A PERFECT CHOICE : Mater Dei in ’85 Gets This Vote as County’s No. 1 Team

The dream team, the team of a perfect season and a state championship team.

While few could argue that Mater Dei High School has produced the best boys’ basketball teams in Orange County over the past two decades, trying to pinpoint one team as the county’s best raises a considerable amount of debate.

Was it the dream team of the 1983-84 season, which had five future Division I players in the starting lineup? Though some consider this the best collection of talent on one team in county history, it failed to win the Southern Section championship.

Or was it the 1984-85 team that won 29 consecutive games to become the only team in county history to finish the season undefeated? Granted, teams in the Southern Section did not compete in the state playoffs in 1985, but Mater Dei was perfect.

Or was it the state championship team in 1987 that finished 31-1 and was ranked second in the nation? Mater Dei’s only loss was to Flint Hill Prep in the final of the King Cotton tournament in Pine Bluff, Ark. Flint Hill finished as the nation’s top-ranked team.

Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight, a seven-year veteran, refused to compare teams. The guy hasn’t won four consecutive Southern Section titles by playing favorites.

For argument’s sake, here’s The Times’ Top 10 teams over the past 20 years.

How the Teams Were Chosen

The top 10 teams were selected by Tom Hamilton, who began reporting on Orange County high school sports for The Times in the fall of 1968, the year the Orange County edition was started. He has covered county high school sports longer than any other newspaper reporter:

1. MATER DEI--1984-85 (29-0)

This was the season that Mater Dei became a true team. The Monarchs had been highly successful but very predictable in two previous seasons. The offense had been one-dimensional with Matt Beeuwsaert shooting outside and Tom Lewis shooting inside, under McKnight’s orders.

The transition came after a close victory over St. Bernard in the sixth game of the season. McKnight felt the game was closer than it should have been and decided it was time for a change.

“I held the state of the union speech before practice and told the players, ‘If you have an open shot, you shoot it,’ ” McKnight said. “All the guys were looking at me going, ‘Huh?’ From that day on, we took off.”

Mater Dei opened up its offense, but Lewis’ game hardly suffered. Lewis had averaged 30.7 points per game as a junior and 32 points as a senior in 1984-85.

The true measure of this team came in the 5-A playoffs. The Monarchs swept past four opponents by an average of 25 points and toyed with a very good Ocean View team in the championship game.

“We rolled through the playoffs,” McKnight said. “We beat some good teams very badly.”

But once the Southern Section playoffs ended, so did Mater Dei’s season. Earlier, principals had voted against competing in the state playoffs to cut costs and because they were concerned that the season was too long.

2. MATER DEI

1986-87 (31-1)

Four overachievers and a superstar is how McKnight describes his 1987 edition. Center LeRon Ellis, the state’s player of the year, was the center attraction. Tall and graceful, Ellis averaged 23.2 points and 12 rebounds per game.

Point guard Chris Patton committed only 52 turnovers in 32 games, a stat that McKnight termed “incredible.” Backcourt mate John Boyle became a starter when Mike Hopkins was injured midway through the season and repeatedly made winning baskets in key games.

Forward Eric Quigley averaged only 5 points per game but routinely guarded each opponent’s best player and held him below his scoring average.

“It was the tightest group I’ve coached,” McKnight said. “They did everything together.”

The highlight of the season was a 46-42 victory over Fairfax in the Southern California regional finals. Fairfax featured superstars Sean Higgins, Chris Mills and J.D. Green.

“LeRon was our only player in that category,” McKnight said. “But I’ve never seen a game plan carried out so well to beat the odds.”

Mater Dei beat Ygnacio Valley, 69-51, in the state Division I title game at Oakland, where Ellis ended a stellar season with 28 points.

3. MATER DEI

1983-84 (28-2)

The dream team featured five Division I players--forwards Mike Fielder and Mike Mitchell, center Tom Lewis and guards Matt Beeuwsaert and Chris Jackson--but was the only team McKnight has coached that failed to win a Southern Section title.

“That’s because we got beat by another team that had five Division I players,” McKnight said. Long Beach Poly, led by center Chris Sandle, forward Terry Stallworth and guard Morlon Wiley, defeated Mater Dei, 45-44, in the championship game.

“I don’t think Orange County had ever seen five more talented guys than those guys, and may never again,” McKnight said of his team. “But it wasn’t a fun year. I was too conservative. I put the handcuffs on some great players.”

Mater Dei’s only other loss that season came against legendary DeMatha High in Washington, D.C. DeMatha was ranked first and Mater Dei second in the nation by USA Today, but DeMatha won easily as Danny Ferry shut down Lewis for one of the few times in his career.

4. MARINA

1974-75 (22-9)

This team peaked for the playoffs after finishing second to Fountain Valley in the Sunset League. Marina’s record included three forfeit losses early in the season for using two scholastically ineligible players.

Marina and Fountain Valley split two memorable games in league play, with the second game drawing so many fans at Marina that school administrators set up a closed-circuit television camera and showed the game in the faculty dining room for those who didn’t get inside the gym.

Forward Bob Losner, guard Rich Branning and center Matt Cook were the team’s top players. Branning, a junior, averaged 19.2 points and 9 assists per game and Losner, a four-year starter, averaged 18 points per game.

Losner and Branning were at their peak in the playoffs, averaging 25 points per game in victories over Huntington Beach, Troy, Long Beach Poly and Inglewood before losing to Palos Verdes, 64-52, in the championship game.

Marina also faced some imposing talent in the playoffs. Inglewood featured 6-7 guard Reggie Theus, now starting for the Atlanta Hawks, and Palos Verdes featured 6-11 center Bill Laimbeer, starting center for the Detroit Pistons.

5. KATELLA

1977-78 (24-2)

Through the years, one of the most talked-about games in county history was Katella’s quarterfinal playoff game against Crescenta Valley in the Anaheim Convention Center.

Katella’s full-court press and fast-breaking offense led to an average of 82 points a game in an era before the 3-point shot. Greg Goorjian averaged 43.4 points per game for Crescenta Valley.

In front of a capacity crowd, Goorjian scored 47 points in a 90-72 victory. Forward Randy Whieldon, center Ray Donnelly and point guard Ed Patrick were overshadowed by Goorjian.

Katella’s only other loss that season came against Downey in the semifinals of the Lakewood tournament. The loss earned the team a scolding the next day from Principal Bill Cullen.

“He drove all the way to Lakewood to watch us play, and we were horrible that night,” said Steve Danley, the other starting guard on the team. “The next day, we came into the gym and he was waiting for us.”

6. CORONA DEL MAR

1976-77 (25-5)

Corona del Mar had made a strong bid to become the county’s first undefeated team the previous season, rolling to 25 consecutive victories. But Muir upset the Sea Kings in the opening round of the playoffs.

Coach Tandy Gillis left Corona del Mar to accept a job at Orange Coast College, but Jack Errion had returning starters Alex Black, Paul Akin and Jack Tuz, and the trio led the Sea Kings to the 3-A title.

Black was a 6-7, 225-pound center with deceptive quickness who muscled his way to a 19.2 scoring average. Tuz, who Errion called “the most physically talented player I ever coached” was a 6-6 forward with fine leaping ability.

Akin, a hard-nosed point guard, was the soul of the team. Two years later, he led Orange Coast College to the state community college title.

Corona del Mar swept through four playoff opponents by an average of 15.2 points before defeating Ramona of Riverside, 56-50, in overtime for the title.

7. CAPISTRANO VALLEY

1985-86 (27-3)

It was difficult determining Coach Mark Thornton’s best team at Capistrano Valley because he has had so many in his eight seasons. Capistrano Valley lost only two league games in four years with Burt Call starting at point guard from 1981-84. Capistrano Valley reached the playoff semifinals four times in five seasons from 1982-86.

But Thornton’s best team was the 1986 edition led by Call’s younger brother, Nathan. Call averaged 13 points and 8.8 assists per game. Forward Shawn Reed, an excellent shooter, averaged 15.8 points per game.

Forward Jason Trask was equally adept at scoring or rebounding, and 6-10 center John Waikle presented problems for opponents inside.

Capistrano Valley won three playoff games by an average of 27 points, and its full-court press forced an average of 25 turnovers in the three games.

But entering a semifinal game against Simi Valley at Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse, Thornton feared a letdown and his worst fears were realized.

Simi Valley played an almost perfect game and Capistrano Valley fell apart in a 97-69 loss, the worst of Thornton’s career.

“You can’t discount that team based on that one game,” Thornton said. “That was the best shooting team I’ve had. It was just one of those nights.”

8. SUNNY HILLS

1968-69 (23-4)

Sunny Hills lost to only two teams in 1968-69. Troy, led by forward Tom Gregory and center Scott Magnuson, defeated the Lancers twice to win the Freeway League title. Sunny Hills also lost twice to Compton, including a 59-55 loss in the 4-A title game.

Guard Brad McNamara, one of the best pure shooters in county history, averaged 19.8 points per game, and backcourt mate Don Paul averaged 13.6. McNamara went to Arizona State and Paul to Washington State.

McNamara returned to the county and led Fullerton College to a 30-2 record as a sophomore and finished his career at San Diego State. He had the distinction of losing 139 consecutive games for the New York Nationals, the fall guys for the Harlem Globetrotters, in 1974-75.

Sunny Hills, which had reached the 4-A semifinals the previous season, went one step further in 1969. Compton’s victory over the Lancers in the title game was its 62nd in a row over two seasons. The Tarbabes extended the streak to 66 the next season, which remains a Southern Section record.

9. WOODBRIDGE

1986-87 (28-5)

Junior center Adam Keefe dominated every opponent on this level in a banner season as Woodbridge won the 2-A title. The Warriors also played a near-perfect game in dismantling De Anza, 89-63, to win the state Division II championship at Oakland.

Every player got into the act as Woodbridge won by the largest margin of victory in the division’s title-game history. Guard David Townsend and forward Vince Bryan joined with Keefe to become a formidable team.

Keefe averaged 22.5 points and 12 rebounds per game. He scored 32 points in the 2-A title game against Banning. Townsend, now playing football at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, was a potent outside threat, averaging 10.6 points per game. Bryan, now at Brigham Young, averaged 15.4 points.

10. EL DORADO

1974-75 (23-5)

Take your pick. El Dorado won the 2-A title in 1974 with an 80-76 overtime victory over Aguora and then repeated as division champion in 1975 with a 67-55 victory over Culver City. The Golden Hawks are the county’s only public school to repeat as champions in the past 20 years.

El Dorado amassed a 47-13 record in the championship years under Coach Nash Rivera. Senior Jim DeWeese and juniors Kevin Heenan and Tryone Branyan were top players on the first title team.

DeWeese, a 6-4 forward, averaged 18.9 points and Heenan (17.2) and Branyan (14.5) also contributed to the Hawks’ high-flying offense. Heenan, the 2-A player of the year in 1975, averaged 22.3 points his senior year, including 23 points in the title game against Culver City. Branyan averaged 17.8 points as a senior.

OTHERS CONSIDERED

Katella (1968-69), Katella (1972-73), Corona del Mar (1975-76), Fountain Valley (1976-77), La Quinta (1979-80), Ocean View (1979-80), Edison (1981-82), Mater Dei (1982-83), Sonora (1982-83), Estancia (1983-84) and Capistrano Valley (1983-84).

THE TIMES 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOP 10 TEAMS

No. Team Season Record Playoffs 1 Mater Dei 1984-85 29-0 5-A champion 2 Mater Dei 1986-87 31-1 State Division I champion 3 Mater Dei 1983-84 28-2 4-A runner-up 4 Marina 1974-75 22-9 4-A runner-up 5 Katella 1977-78 24-2 4-A quarterfinalist 6 Corona del Mar 1976-77 25-5 3-A champion 7 Capistrano Valley 1985-86 27-3 4-A semifinalist 8 Sunny Hills 1968-69 23-4 4-A runner-up 9 Woodbridge 1986-87 28-5 State Division II champion 10 El Dorado 1974-75 23-5 2-A champion