BOYS’ BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS : Mater Dei Proves to Tustin It Can Win Without Cotton

Mater Dei seemed ripe for picking.

For the first time since 1988, another Orange County team seemed ready to be of the hill. Tustin had those aspirations. By the end of Saturday night’s game, they looked more like pipe dreams.

Mater Dei came up with its best game without its best player, grinding out a 55-46 victory over the Tillers to win their fourth consecutive Tournament of Champions title at Ocean View High School.

The Monarchs (6-0) did so without sophomore Schea Cotton, who drew a one-game suspension after being ejected in Friday’s semifinal. The Monarchs did so despite facing Tustin, a talented team that was focused on getting Orange County’s top ranking.

“We knew as a team, we had to come up big,” center Shaun Jackson said.

The Monarchs did, but it was Jackson, a 6-foot-7 senior, who stood tallest. He scored nine of his 27 points in the fourth quarter.

Raffi Lalazarian’s three-pointer cut the Mater Dei lead to 43-41 with 6 minutes 26 seconds left. Jackson answered with a driving layup that drew a foul.

Next time down, Jackson went down the baseline, spun and hit a short bank shot. He then raced back up court, arms raised. Tustin didn’t challenge again.

“It came down to us not be able to stop Shaun,” said Tustin point guard Doug Gottlieb, who finished with 14 points and nine assists. “Every time we made a run, he made a shot. Every time we needed the ball, he got the rebound. He killed us.”

From Tustin’s standpoint, the game did not follow the script. The Tillers were looking to join an exclusive club. Only five county high schools have beaten Mater Dei since Gary McKnight became the Monarchs’ coach in 1982. In that time, only Saddleback has finished No. 1 (1988) in the county poll.

But the Tillers’ chances looked good.

Cotton, one of the top players in Southern California, was suspended after an altercation with an official in the game against Ocean View. Cotton verbally abused and then bumped the referee and was ejected. Under Southern Section rules, a player must sit out the game after an ejection.

Things seemed to follow Tustin’s script in the first half.

Mater Dei led by as many as 11 points in the first half, but couldn’t rattle the Tillers.

Clay McKnight sank a three-pointer to give the Monarchs a 26-15 lead with 3:44 left in the second quarter. Then Gottlieb went to work, demonstrating his vast skills.

He hit a jumper, then fed Matt Kraus for a layup. Next, Gottlieb drove for a layup and was fouled. He followed that with consecutive assists that left the Monarchs flat-footed.

In two minutes, Gottlieb had pulled the Tillers even, 26-26. He had eight points and seven assists in the half, accounting for 22 of Tustin’s 28 points.

Jackson seemed to shoulder the burden created by Cotton’s absence. He scored 13 points and had nine rebounds in the first half. Jackson hit a five-footer with four seconds left to give Mater Dei a 30-28 halftime lead.

The Monarchs had their best defensive performance of the season. They limited Tustin guard Robert Griffin, averaging 12 points, to three points. They kept David Lalazarian, Tustin’s 6-7 center, from becoming a factor, holding him to eight points. The Monarchs also were able to slow Gottlieb in the second half.

Mater Dei then smothered the Tillers in the fourth quarter. After Raffi Lalazarian’s three-pointer, Tustin went scoreless for for nearly four minutes.

By then, the Monarchs, and Jackson, had things well in hand.

In the third-place game:

Westchester 77, Ocean View 60--Danny Walker and Ben Sanders each had 20 points for Westchester (5-1), who outscored Ocean View, 25-10, after the first quarter. Sanders was 10 of 19 from the field and Walker was 8 of 13 with four three-pointers. Dan McDonald had 29 points and 10 rebounds for Ocean View (6-5), which outscored Westchester, 27-8, from the free-throw line.

In the fifth-place game:

Los Alamitos 58, Los Angeles Fairfax 54--Ali Ton had 17 points and Cory Johnson and Jarem Vandervoet each had 14 points for Los Alamitos (7-2). Jair Fray had 15 points for Fairfax (4-2).

In the consolation championship game:

La Puente Nogales 63, Servite 55--Shonario Richard scored 18 points to lead Nogales (9-1).

Mark Seaton, Servite’s 6-9 center who has signed to play for Stanford, broke his foot during the game and will be out for 10 weeks.

In a consolation game:

Los Angeles Manual Arts 57, Newport Harbor 38--Travis Reed had 21 points and seven rebounds to lead Manual Arts (3-6), which outscored Newport Harbor, 33-13, in the second half of their consolation game. Mark Hornung had 13 points for Newport Harbor (4-6).