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SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Mater Dei Is No Match for Parks, Marina : Basketball: County’s No. 1 man leads the Vikings over No. 1-ranked Monarchs, 64-55.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

If there’s any question who is the greatest prep basketball player in Orange County history, Cherokee Parks set the record straight Tuesday night.

Parks, a 6-foot-11 center, scored 30 points, had 10 rebounds and blocked five shots as the county’s most dominating player beat the county’s most dominant program in convincing fashion.

Some might call it an upset, but Marina High School soundly defeated Mater Dei, 64-55, in the semifinals of the Southern Section’s Division I-A playoffs at Bren Center with the big guy they call “Chief” making all the big plays.

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A sellout crowd of 5,000 saw Parks have his way with Mater Dei, scoring on eight dunks and dictating play on the defensive end to help Marina advance to the championship game for only the second time in the school’s 26-year history.

Marina (19-10) will meet Santa Barbara (25-5) for the title at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Santa Barbara advanced with a 50-41 victory over Saugus in the other semifinal game.

Marina outscored Mater Dei, 21-11, in the fourth quarter by making 11 of 15 free-throw attempts and limiting Mater Dei to only a pair of three-point shots. Mater Dei (25-5) was bidding for its seventh title in the past nine years under Coach Gary McKnight, but in the end, the Monarchs were no match for Parks.

“Cherokee Parks is the best offensive player Orange County has ever seen at the center spot,” McKnight said. “It was like me playing nerf ball with my kids against the door. He was a man.”

“We had to use two or three guys to block him out on the boards, and the others on his team crashed the boards. We’re used to getting two or three shots on the offensive boards, and we got one tonight.”

Mater Dei shot poorly, making only 18 of 48 shot attempts. J.J. Ballesteros, Mater Dei’s best shooter, was four for 12 and teammate Reggie Geary managed only two points in the second half.

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Parks opened the game with three thunderous dunks in the first quarter, setting the tone for the evening and giving Mater Dei an early hint that the Chief wants a championship trophy.

Parks scored four straight baskets in the third quarter but Mater Dei had a 44-43 lead going into the last quarter when guard Kamran Sufi made a 30-foot shot at the buzzer. It was Mater Dei’s last hurrah.

Parks said a foul called against him late in the third quarter was just what he needed for motivation down the stretch in a very physical game. He had 12 points in the last quarter, including his eighth dunk with 3:45 remaining that pushed Marina ahead, 55-50.

“Cherokee played like the best the county’s ever seen, and that’s what it took to beat the best,” said Steve Popovich, Marina coach. “When you look at the bracket we’ve gone through, we deserve to be in the championship game.”

Marina opened the playoffs with an easy victory over Alta Loma and then faced successive showdowns with Capistrano Valley, San Bernardino and Mater Dei to reach the finals. McKnight believes Marina is a team peaking.

Sean Haselrig and Darren Crooks had the big free throws down the stretch that allowed Marina to become only the fifth county school to beat Mater Dei in the past nine years.

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