ANGELUS LEAGUE : Mater Dei Shoots Past Bishop Amat

This is just a hunch, but Bishop Amat boys’ basketball Coach Alex Acosta may have his guys wear out the free-throw line in the next few practice sessions.

The Lancers shot 43% (10 for 23) from the line, which, combined with their equally poor 37% (16 for 43) shooting from the field, made it easy for Mater Dei to beat Bishop Amat, 72-50, Wednesday night before a capacity crowd of about 750 in Santa Ana.

“We didn’t shoot very well and missed a lot of free throws, and when you play in this league and especially in this building, you almost have to play a perfect game to win,” Acosta said.

Mater Dei (15-4, 3-1 in league) wasn’t perfect, of course, but played extremely well in gaining a tie for the league lead with Bishop Amat (12-6, 3-1) and Servite.

The Monarchs’ shooting performance was just the opposite of Bishop Amat’s. Mater Dei made 27 of 57 field goals for 47% and 17 of 19 free throws for 89%. The Monarchs converted all eight of their free throws in the final quarter, including six by forward Jason Janeski.

Mater Dei, the No. 2 rated team in Orange County, got 10 first-quarter points from guard Reggie Geary to take a 19-11 lead at the end of the quarter, and increased the lead to 38-18 at halftime. Bishop Amat got as close as 15 points after that, 50-35, when guard Rashid Strode scored on a fast-break layup with 1 minute 28 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Mater Dei moved the ball well, consistently finding open men. Janeski was the main beneficiary of the team’s sharp passing. He scored 18 points, mostly on short jumpers from the low post. Geary finished with 16 points and center Terence Wilborn added nine for the Monarchs.

The primary offensive force for Bishop Amat was freshman guard Jelani Gardner, who led all scorers with 23 points. Gardner made six of nine three-point attempts, mostly from the top of the key. In fact, the Lancers’ first nine points came on three-pointers by Gardner.

But their lack of offense otherwise took them out of the game.

In other league games:

Santa Margarita 66, St. John Bosco 64--Mike Carpenter made a three-point shot with six seconds to play to give host Santa Margarita the victory. David Perry had 14 points and Dan Bathey had 12 of his 13 points in the second half for the Eagles (11-6, 1-3).

Servite 71, Loyola 69 (OT)--Dan Coady completed a three-point play after scoring and being fouled with one second remaining to give visiting Servite (13-5, 3-1) the victory. Guard Toby Bailey had 23 points for Loyola (8-9, 1-3). Adam Anderson led Servite with 19 points and Coady and Ryan Dodd each had 13.