PREP BASKETBALL ROUNDUP

St. Monica 77, St. Bernard 57--The Vikings, who had secured the Camino Real League championship, had a little luster removed from their season by visiting St. Monica on Wednesday night.

With the loss, St. Bernard finishes with a 10-2 league mark and an overall record of 21-5. St. Monica, which has second place sewn up, improves to 8-3 and 18-5.

St. Bernard led most of the first half, but the Mariners took control with a 9-2 run before intermission to grab a 37-31 halftime lead.

The Vikings reclaimed the lead, 46-44, with 2:20 left in the third quarter, but it turned out to be St. Bernard’s last stand.

St. Monica mounted a 21-4 charge and held St. Bernard to just seven points in the final quarter to sew up the victory. Cleveland Jackson punctuated the victory with a slam dunk with two minutes left that sent the St. Monica bench into a frenzy.

The Mariners attributed the win to pressure defense.

“There was really no special thing that we had to change because we had been playing good defense all along,” said St. Monica Coach Leo Klemm. “We just kept up the pressure.”

St. Bernard Coach Jim McClune was visibly disappointed.

“It’s entirely possible that all this team wanted was the league championship,” said McClune, who Sunday morning will learn his team’s opponent in the CIF 5-AA playoffs. “Maybe some of them think it’s time for baseball and track.”