Mater Dei Gets Its Rematch With Crenshaw

High school basketball in Southern California tries to take a step toward national prominence tonight when Crenshaw and Santa Ana Mater Dei clash in a boys’ state tournament game at Anaheim Arena.

Area teams and players have lacked the respect given their counterparts in the Midwest and on the East Coast over the years, but they have been gaining ground.

Mater Dei enters tonight’s Southern Regional Division I final with a 33-0 record and No. 2 national ranking by USA Today. Crenshaw, the defending state champion, is 27-2 and ranked No. 5 in the nation.

Adding to the pressure is an expected sellout of 17,100 and a live television audience. Anyone getting turned away at the door can watch Channel 9, which begins its broadcast at 7:30.

A sellout would set a record for the largest crowd to watch a high school game in California. The live telecast is also a first for the Southern Regional tournament.

“Other states go crazy for high school basketball, and our staff felt Southern California also has a lot of interest,” said Susan Stratton, who will direct tonight’s telecast for Channel 9. “We think there is a big audience for this. There certainly is enough talent out there.”

Crenshaw defeated Mater Dei on a shot at the buzzer in last year’s regional final, 63-61. The Cougars also won their previous meeting, 59-57 in overtime, in the 1986 regional championship.

A rematch has been discussed since the beginning of the season.

Mater Dei breezed through the regular season unchallenged, its only close game a 65-59 victory over Huntington Beach Edison in the Southern Section Division I final last Saturday. Coach Gary McKnight chewed his team out after the game for a lackluster performance.

Crenshaw started the season impressively, winning a tough national tournament in Florida in December. It spent one week in the No. 1 spot in USA Today before dropping a pair of games during a holiday tournament in South Carolina the following week.

The Cougars have won 17 in a row since then, one of those a 72-53 victory over Dorsey in the City Section 4-A final last Friday.

Many of the teams’ starters are expected to make an impact in college next season. Mater Dei guard Miles Simon has signed with Arizona. Crenshaw’s Kristaan Johnson, Tremaine Fowlkes and Tommie Davis will attend UCLA, Cal and Houston, respectively.

One of the best players, Mater Dei’s Schea Cotton, is a freshman averaging a team-high 21 points.

Crenshaw has more speed and depth and averages 100 points a game. Mater Dei is younger but more disciplined.

Prep Notes

There are six regional finals at Anaheim Arena today, beginning with the girls’ Division III contest between No. 1 Brea-Olinda and Newport Harbor at 9:30 a.m. and concluding with the Crenshaw-Mater Dei game. Cal State Dominguez Hills is the site of the Division IV and V finals today beginning at 2 p.m. Today’s winners advance to the final round of the State tournament next weekend in Oakland to play the Northern Regional champions.