Drought Hits Mater Dei at Worst Time

The tapes have been released, much to the chagrin of Gary McKnight, and if you owned a VCR and a cable subscription to Prime Ticket, you can already launch your own investigation.

Examine the first 10 minutes 40 seconds of Mater Dei’s State championship game Saturday night against Alameda St. Joseph.

Fast-forward to the 5:38 mark of the third quarter and study the next 10 minutes 23 seconds.

That’s 21:03 off the scoreboard clock . . . and one field goal in the Mater Dei scorebook.

From this day forward, members of McKnight’s 1991-92 varsity will remember it as The 21-Minute Gap.

Twenty minutes is a long time in human terms, even longer in dog terms, even longer in high school basketball terms. Twenty-one minutes, in high-school basketball terms, is almost three quarters of one game .

Mater Dei, 34-1 in its first 35 games, played nearly three quarters of its final game and scored precisely one basket.

Mater Dei finished its season 34-2.

No further explanation is required.

“We couldn’t hit a shot if our lives depended on it,” said McKnight, who was left to peruse a tale from the crypt known as a Final Box Score.

Points: St. Joseph 59, Mater Dei 37.

Field-goal percentage: Mater Dei 27.1% (13 for 48).

Three-point percentage: Mater Dei 8.3% (one for 12).

McKnight had never seen anything like it.

“I hope I don’t see it again,” he said.

It would be difficult to duplicate if the Monarchs added blindfolds to their uniform scheme. Mater Dei played 10 minutes 40 seconds before sinking a basket. At the time, the Monarchs trailed, 19-4, with all four points coming on free throws by Reggie Geary.

The momentous event came on a baseline jumper by Terence Wilborn, with 5:20 left in the second quarter. No, they didn’t stop the game, although that was the second most surprising thing about the boys’ Division I final.

The most surprising thing: Mater Dei was within two points with 5:38 left in the third quarter.

You could look it up. St. Joseph 28, Mater Dei 26, after an Arco Arena-rattling lob-and-dunk, Kamran Sufi to Geary, and two free throws by Marmet Williams. “We made a nice run,” McKnight noted, “and then they hit--boom, boom--and we just couldn’t regroup.”

Regroup, no. Regress, yes. The next 10:23 was another crawl through the desert for Mater Dei, with one layup by Chris Jackson the only drop of water. By the time the Monarchs scored again, only 4:15 remained in the game and St. Joseph led, 47-28.

It was a once-in-a-season drought, for the second time in one game. The only thing worse than watching it was trying to explain it.

Jason Kidd? For the Monarchs, he was an intimidating outsider--outside Mater Dei’s enrollment area, outside Mater Dei’s comprehension . . . and if you’re Mater Dei, which is worse? Saturday was the Monarchs’ first glimpse of Kidd and it was truly frightening. Body--18 going on 25. Skills--All-American going on All-World. With 28 points and nine rebounds, Kidd left the Monarchs slack-jawed. “We should have showed them more film,” McKnight conceded.

The incessant cadence of the timeout buzzer? Because of TV, the game was held up nearly 10 minutes before tipoff and interrupted countless times throughout. “Every time we seemed to get a run,” McKnight said, “the horn blew. But it was the same for (St. Joseph).”

Jet lag? The Monarchs flew north Saturday morning, catching the 9 a.m. shuttle from John Wayne, and had to play about seven hours after they landed.

“It didn’t seem to bother Brea,” McKnight observed.

Well, yes and no. The other half of Orange County’s championship contingent, the Brea-Olinda High girls’ basketball team, also flew Saturday morning and survived. The Ladycats won their third state title in four years, 47-44, over Healdsburg, but shot only 33.3% to do it. As an entry, Orange County shot 30.2% from the field in the finals.

So Orange County got a split.

Orange County got lucky.

And don’t think Brea Coach Mark Trakh didn’t realize it. With 8.8 seconds remaining, his team was up by a basket, 46-44, and shooting a free throw. Brea point guard Nicole Erickson missed and Healdsburg forward Cindy Latson rebounded, looking upcourt for a fast break.

But before the outlet pass, Latson double-dribbled.

“I said, ‘Lord, I owe you one,’ ” said Trakh upon hearing that wondrous whistle. “I will be good from now on.”

A double dribble. Double-duty by four-time state finalist Jody Anton, who scored 19 points as the only Ladycat with a passing familiarity with the basket. By that much, Anton closed out her high-school career as a three-time champion, rather than a two-time runner-up.

“There goes the best female basketball player Orange County’s ever had,” Trakh said. “What Cheryl Miller was to Riverside Poly, what Janet Evans was to Placentia, Jody is to Brea . . . Next year, we get to find out how good of coaches we really are.”

USC-bound, Anton had trouble dealing with the notion that the Brea portion of her life, at least in sweat bands and high tops, was in the past. She cried on the court, during the trophy presentation, and during the Ladycats interview session, with teammate Katie Bauer helping dab the tears from her eyes.

Tears were not enough for Mater Dei, though. More stunned than saddened, Monarch eyes were dry in the post-mortem.

Nearly as dry as the 21 minutes that put them there.