ANGELUS LEAGUE BASKETBALL : Mater Dei Comes Back for 68-53 Victory

After every basket Mater Dei High School scores, the Monarch fans yell, “Whoosh!”

That was something like the sound Mater Dei made as it raced past Bishop Montgomery in the second half to beat the Knights, 68-53, in an Angelus League game at Bishop Montgomery Saturday night.

It was no easy victory for the Monarchs (20-1 overall, 4-0 in the Angelus League), the Southern Section’s top-rated 5-A team.

Bishop Montgomery fell to 11-4 overall, 3-1 in the league.

“(Bishop Montgomery) is a good team, they are a true contender,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “(Bishop Montgomery Coach) Doug Mitchell has done a great job with them. The Angelus League is stronger than people think; it’ll show up in the playoffs.”

The Knights were winless in the league last season.

Mater Dei trailed, 31-28, at halftime, but led the third quarter with a 19-0 run that spanned the period’s first four minutes and 29 seconds.

Mitchell called two timeouts during the spurt and yelled to his team that “the game wasn’t over.”

But after Dan O’Neil hit a 15-footer to the right of the basket with 3:23 left in the third quarter for a 47-31 lead, the game was virtually out of reach.

“The kids got together at halftime and just decided that they were going to play together,” McKnight said.

Said Mitchell: “We played hard, but we didn’t play intelligent. When they started that run, we panicked, we started (putting) up bad shots. Hopefully, it was a learning experience.”

Mater Dei is a good team to learn from as the Monarchs committed only three second-half turnovers in wearing down Bishop Montgomery.

In the first half, Bishop Montgomery struggled to build a 26-18 lead with 4:22 left in the second quarter. Mater Dei began forcing the Knights into cross-court passes, three of which were intercepted and led to baskets. The Monarchs cut the lead to three points, and the first half ended with Bishop Montgomery leading, 31-28.

Darrell Daniel scored 15 points in the first two quarters, but then was held to one three-point basket in the second half. He led Bishop Montgomery with 18 points.

Mater Dei guard David Boyle led all scorers with 21 points.