Mater Dei Is Left Crying Foul Play : Division I: Late call against Monarchs hurts momentum. Crenshaw advances to State title game for second year in row with 71-67 victory.

Mater Dei had a chance to budge that immovable object called the Los Angeles Crenshaw boys’ basketball team. The moment was there, and then it was gone.

Once again, the Cougars came on strong down the stretch, pulling out a 71-67 victory Saturday at Anaheim Arena. Once again, it will be Crenshaw playing in the State Division I championship game. Once again, it could have been Mater Dei.

The Monarchs lost to the Cougars, 63-61, in the regional final last season when Miles Simon missed a jumper with 10 seconds left and Kristaan Johnson made a buzzer-beating layup. This time around, the Monarchs made the basket, but it was taken away.

At the center of it again was Johnson.

Clay McKnight sank a three-point field goal that appeared to tie the score, 69-69, with 1 minute 21 seconds left. But Johnson hit the floor a second before McKnight shot, and officials called Mike Karich for an illegal screen.

“It was a foul,” Johnson said. “I wanted to get the foul so I flopped. I exaggerated a little bit to get the ref’s attention. He called it.’ ”

Johnson then sank one of two free throws to give Crenshaw a 70-66 lead. The play seemed to take the air out of Mater Dei. The Monarchs missed three field goals, three of four free throws and turned the ball over twice in the final 1:21.

“I thought that should have been a five-point play,” Monarch Coach Gary McKnight said. “I thought the three-pointer should have counted and we should have been shooting free throws.”

Crenshaw Coach Willie West saw a different version.

“I thought it was a foul,” he said. “I just didn’t know if they would call it.”

The victory gave West his fourth victory over Mater Dei in the State playoffs. The Cougars, who have won five State titles in 10 years, have beaten the Monarchs three times in the regional final.

This time, though, Mater Dei (33-1) was suppose to have the upper hand. Although they returned only one starter, the Monarchs had won 33 consecutive games, some by ridiculously lopsided margins, and came in ranked second in the nation by USA Today. Crenshaw was ranked fifth.

Mater Dei rolled through the playoffs behind the 1-2 punch of Simon and Schea Cotton. Both struggled Saturday.

Simon, who was averaging 21 points, scored 12 against a Crenshaw defense that ran two defenders at him most of the night. He made only four of 12 shots and was one of six on three-pointers.

He went scoreless in the fourth quarter.

“We wanted him to shoot off the dribble,” West said. “We didn’t want him to stand there and shoot.”

Cotton, a 6-foot-5 freshman, got off to a good start. He had 11 points by halftime, including a reverse dunk that brought the large Monarch crowd to its feet.

But Cotton scored only five points in the second half, as he usually found Tremaine Fowlkes in his path. Fowlkes blocked two of Cotton’s shots.

Cotton fouled out with 2:25 left.

“Most of Cotton’s shots in the first half were uncontested,” West said. “We got on him tighter so he wouldn’t get those again.”

Even with Cotton and Simon laboring, the Monarchs chased the Cougars down the stretch.

Shaun Jackson scored six of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, including a layup that pulled Mater Dei to within one, 65-64, with five minutes left. But the Monarchs couldn’t get over the hump.

Simon had a chance to tie the score with less than three minutes left. He stole a pass and dribbled one-on-one with Tommie Davis. Simon spun left in the lane, but missed the layup.

Crenshaw (28-2) relied almost solely on Johnson in the fourth quarter. He scored eight of his 27 points in the final quarter.

Johnson was a problem all evening, as he used his 6-5, 240-pound body to out-muscle the Monarchs inside. He finished with nine rebounds, seven of which were offensive.

“They really hurt us on the offensive boards,” McKnight said. “I thought we handled their press well, but the offensive rebounding killed us.”

Crenshaw had 12 offensive rebounds in the first half and led, 40-37, at halftime. The Monarchs were forced into a 2-3 zone, as they tried to use numbers to counter Crenshaw’s size. The Cougars start five players 6-5 or taller.