DEL MAR TORREY PINES BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Oak Hill Academy Dominates Mater Dei in Title Game, 69-50

Reggie Geary, Mater Dei’s Arizona-bound guard, addressed reporters after the Monarchs fell to Oak Hill Academy, 69-50, in the championship game of the Del Mar Torrey Pines basketball tournament Tuesday at San Diego State’s Peterson Gym.

If the teams played 10 times, Geary speculated, Mater Dei would win five games.

That’s easier said than done for the only senior among the Monarchs’ top 10 players. Geary, who was selected to the all-tournament team, was limited to six points against Oak Hill, a private school in Mouth of Wilson, Va.

“We’re a really good team and they’re on another level,” said Mater Dei assistant Phil Bellomo, the offensive coach whose team shot 46% (19 of 41).

If it’s any consolation, Oak Hill Coach Steve Smith said his team played a nearly perfect game, the kind it will need to play Friday when it faces the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, Baltimore Dunbar.

“We found out tonight we’re not as good as we thought we were,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “They’ve got that zone and we couldn’t get our press going. We had terrible matchup problems and, physically, they’re a lot stronger than us.

“They dominated with their strength and size.”

It showed, especially in the third quarter, when Chris Davis, Oak Hill’s 6-foot-6 center who’s headed for Kansas, dominated the middle. He blocked four shots and got most of his six rebounds after being slowed by early foul trouble. Oak Hill stretched a 31-23 halftime lead to 45-28 with 2:43 left in the quarter.

Three three-point baskets in the quarter--two by Miles Simon--prevented complete devastation.

Oak Hill (20-1) entered the game ranked ninth in the nation by USA Today; Mater Dei (14-1) had been ranked 21st.

Mater Dei, Orange County’s top-ranked team, reached the final on the strength of its defensive pressure, but Oak Hill was too quick to allow the Monarchs’ press to set up.

“Some of our kids were rattled,” McKnight said. “They pushed us out to a perimeter game in the first half, and (Davis) could score any time he wanted to--or whenever they felt it was his turn to score.”

Davis finished with 10 points. Senior Brian Thompson (who’s headed to Florida) added 18, and senior Martice Moore (Georgia Tech) and junior Jeff McInnis 15 each.

David Drakeford led Mater Dei with 16 points and Marmet Williams added 11.

In the third-place game:

Brooklyn Lincoln Wins--Brooklyn Bishop Ford had seven players break curfew Monday night and forfeited its game.

In the consolation round:

Los Alamitos 58, Carlsbad 53--Tim Lin scored 19 points and Jason Cunningham had 17 for Los Alamitos (5-7). Ali Miller added 12 points and six assists for the Griffins, who had lost to Carlsbad, 65-55, earlier this season in the Trabuco Hills tournament.