Mater Dei, an Underdog Today, Hopes to Play Winning Role

Mater Dei, the underdog. It’s an unlikely role the Monarchs will find themselves playing at 6 tonight in the State Division I boys’ basketball championship game at the Arco Arena.

Over the past 10 years, Mater Dei High School has won seven Southern Section championships and two State titles and compiled a 286-25 record under Coach Gary McKnight. Somehow, the term “underdog” doesn’t quite fit.

But then the Monarchs’ opponent, Alameda St. Joseph, is no ordinary team. St. Joseph (31-3) is the defending State champion and has the nation’s top player, point guard Jason Kidd, running a high-powered offense.

“It (underdog role) is something a little different for us,” McKnight said. “It could work for us, or against us. We were the underdogs against Oak Hill Academy this year, and you saw what happened.”

Oak Hill, a private school in Mouth of Wilson, Va., handed Mater Dei its only loss this season, a 69-50 rout in the championship game of the Above the Rim Tournament in San Diego. Mater Dei (34-1) has since won 19 consecutive games.

Reggie Geary, the Monarchs’ sometimes spectacular and often animated point guard, leads the team with a 14.8 scoring average and 6.5 assists per game.

But Geary’s statistics pale in comparison to Kidd’s, who has become a legendary sports figure playing to capacity crowds throughout the Bay Area. Kidd averages 26 points, nine assists, eight rebounds and six steals.

Mater Dei’s Ray Jackson will draw the assignment of trying to guard Kidd. McKnight knows the task that lies ahead for his team.

“You can’t stop Jason Kidd, you can only hope to slow him down,” McKnight said. “If you press him, he’ll go right around you. (Sacramento) Jesuit tried to press him last week in the regionals and he blew by four defenders.”

The dream game, matching the state’s top-ranked team, Mater Dei, against the state’s best player, Kidd, has been anticipated since the beginning of the season.

It figures to be Mater Dei’s defense against St. Joseph’s run-and-gun offense in one of the most attractive matchups in State playoff history.

Mater Dei has limited 17 of its 35 opponents to 50 points or fewer. St. Joseph’s backcourt duo of Kidd and Adrian Ealy average 44 points between them.

The game also features two future Pacific 10 Conference stars. Kidd will play next season at California, Geary at Arizona.

St. Joseph, a school with 470 students, is bidding to become the first Division I school to win consecutive titles since Los Angeles Crenshaw won in 1985 and ’86.

As for Kidd, the game will serve as a final curtain call before he takes his show to Cal.

One other Orange County team will be playing for a title today when the Brea-Olinda girls make their fourth consecutive appearance in a State championship game, meeting Healdsburg in the Division III final at 2:15 p.m. at the Arco Arena.

Brea-Olinda (31-2) will be attempting to win its third State championship in those four years but will do so in a different class than last year, having dropped from Division II.

The Ladycats won titles in 1989 and 1991 and lost in the championship game in 1990.

Healdsburg (31-3) is making its second consecutive trip to the state finals, having lost to Palos Verdes last year in the Division III championship game.

Guard Mariah Volk and forward Carrie Dormire are Healdsburg’s top players. Center Jody Anton, a four-year starter, leads Brea with a 16-point scoring average.