ANGELUS LEAGUE : Mater Dei Teams Up to Defeat Servite for Undefeated League Mark

This season’s Mater Dei High School basketball team does not have one dominant player. But the Monarchs make up for any lack of stars with team play.

That style was evident in Friday night’s 50-36 Angelus League victory over Servite at Cypress College.

The Monarchs, the top-ranked team in Orange County, had wrapped up the league title last week and with Friday’s victory finished league play undefeated for the seventh time in the past eight seasons. During that span, Mater Dei has a 74-2 league record.

“I was a little worried about how the kids would react because the game didn’t really mean anything as far as the league was concerned,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “But we wanted to make sure we would be the No. 1-seeded team in the (Southern Section 5-A) playoffs.”

The Monarchs (25-1 overall, 8-0 in league play) played with the intensity of a No. 1 team, at least on defense. They pressured the Friars and forced 21 turnovers.

Servite had difficulty getting uncontested shots. The Friars (13-10, 4-4) made only seven of 33 shots through three quarters and 11 of 40 for the game.

“We have nine guys who just work their tails off,” McKnight said. “We don’t have someone like (6-foot-11) LeRon Ellis to fill in the middle, but this is one of our better defensive teams. We held Servite to 36 points and most of that came after the game was over.”

On offense, well . . .

“We stunk it up,” McKnight said.

The Monarchs didn’t shoot well and also turned the ball over some. But they did have three players score in double figures.

Point guard Jason Quinn scored 11 points, including three three-pointers. Charles Andres made four of five shots and scored 11 points. David Boyle scored 10 points, but made only three of 12 shots.

As a team, Mater Dei was only 16 of 37 from the field.

“I think the methodical pace of the game had something to do with the way our offense played,” McKnight said. “No one could get into a rhythm.”

Servite, which has lost 16 consecutive games to Mater Dei, had slowed the tempo in the teams’ previous game. The Friars had used a four-corner offense and played even with the Monarchs through most of that game before losing, 55-46.

On Friday, Servite never got a chance to use similar tactics. With the score tied, 4-4, the Monarchs went on a 8-0 run.

Mater Dei increased its lead to 29-13 with three minutes left in the second quarter and led 31-17 at halftime.

Servite never got closer than 14 points in the second half.