TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS : It’s Typically Close as Long Beach Poly Defeats Mater Dei

Mater Dei-Long Beach Poly VI was a replay of the five previous meetings between two of the Southern Section’s most successful high school basketball programs over the past nine years.

Long Beach Poly won, 50-48, Friday night in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions at Ocean View High, but once again, it wasn’t easy. And this time, the team with the ball at the end didn’t win.

Poly (5-1) had to survive a last-second three-point shot attempt by Mater Dei’s J.J. Ballesteros to move into the championship game at 8:30 tonight against San Bernardino. In the teams’ last meeting, Jason Quinn hit a three-point shot at the buzzer to give Mater Dei the Southern California Division I regional championship.

This time, the stakes weren’t quite the same, but Poly will now be aiming for its fourth championship in the prestigious tournament. It was also Poly’s fourth victory in six tries over a team coached by Gary McKnight. Crenshaw (2-1) is the only other school with a winning record against Mater Dei in the McKnight era.

Poly forward Yikeem Craddock scored the winning basket on a short bank shot after taking a fine pass from teammate Fabian Nixon with 12 seconds left. Mater Dei called a timeout and elected to go for a victory.

“We were going for a win all the way with a three-pointer,” McKnight said. “I thought we played very well, but in the end, our inexperience showed.

“We need to get over the hump and win some close games.”

Mater Dei (4-3) lost for the third time this season by two points or less.

Mater Dei took a 43-36 lead with 2:19 left in the third quarter on Ballesteros’ three-point shot. But the Monarchs failed to make a field goal in the fourth quarter and watched a seemingly safe lead disappear.

Long Beach Poly Coach Ron Palmer said he was willing to concede Mater Dei an easy basket and a tie in the final seconds to prevent a three-point shot.

“We were trying to make sure they didn’t get a three,” Palmer said. “We were almost willing to give a deuce. This was another typical Mater Dei-Poly game.”

San Bernardino 61, Ocean View 37--A smothering defense took Ocean View completely out of its offensive scheme as San Bernardino (8-0) limited the Seahawks to a season-low 37 points in the other semifinal.

Ocean View (5-2) made only 13 of 45 field-goal attempts and had 20 turnovers. The Seahawks didn’t get a field goal in the third quarter until guard Ryan Martin’s layup with 1:09 remaining.

“We’ve never dribbled so much in a game,” Ocean View Coach Jim Harris said. “We couldn’t run our offense. The guys who needed to do it didn’t have it tonight. I’m disappointed.”

Tustin 65, St. Monica 43--Tustin opened a 12-0 as St. Monica missed its first 12 shots, and the Tillers rolled to their sixth victory in seven games in the fifth-place semifinals.

Forward Thomas Clayton scored 21 points and had 13 rebounds, and center Brian Reider added 14 points and 14 rebounds for Tustin. Guard David Beilstein missed his second consecutive game because of the flu.

St. Monica made only 16 of 63 shots. Guard Keith Walk-Green led St. Monica with 19 points. Tustin will meet Millikan (7-1) for fifth at 5 p.m. today.