Mater Dei Handles Quartz Hill Easily

Quick. Methodical. Clinical. Those adjectives and any others you care to use neatly describe Mater Dei’s handling of Quartz Hill Tuesday night.

At the start of the game, the Monarchs needed only 4 minutes 57 seconds to reel off a 16-3 run. They needed only one hour and 10 minutes to end Quartz Hill’s season with a 73-39 victory in the Division I-A boys’ basketball second-round playoff game.

Awaiting the Monarchs in Friday’s I-A quarterfinals is Claremont, which edged Newhall Hart, 70-67, Tuesday.

In front of Quartz Hill’s largest crowd of the season, Mater Dei (28-1) showed why it’s the state’s second-ranked team, shooting 69% (nine of 13) from the field in the first quarter en route to a 59% night (29 of 49).

“Overall, I’m pretty pleased,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “Anytime you go on the road--and this is on the road--it’s tough. We left at 12:30 for a 7:30 game.”

It took but a fraction of that time to settle down a rowdy Quartz Hill crowd. The Rebels, admittedly tight from hearing about Mater Dei and its state and national ranking (13th), turned the ball over four times in the first five minutes.

All five Monarch starters--Kamran Sufi, Marmet Williams, Terence Wilborn, Miles Simon and Dave Drakeford--scored during that 16-3 run. For Simon, they were five of his game-high 18 points as 10 Mater Dei players made the box score.

Quartz Hill finishes 15-7.