SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : Mater Dei Storms Past Clovis West

Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight stood on the spot in The Pond where he had so much agony a year ago. This time, it was ecstasy.

He’d called timeout with five minutes left to ask one last thing of his team.

“I told them to have some fun, finish on a good note and get ready for next week,” McKnight said.

There is a next week.

Mater Dei, oh-so-close to the state final the past two seasons, got there Saturday night. The Monarchs made certain this time by trouncing Clovis West, 78-51, in the Southern California Regional Division I final before 10,715 in The Pond for their 24th consecutive victory.

They will play Oakland Fremont Saturday in the Oakland Coliseum Arena. But opponents weren’t on the Monarchs’ mind, not right away. They were looking back, if only for a moment.

The Monarchs were within eyesight of the state final the past two seasons, needing only one victory. Both times they lost close games to Los Angeles Crenshaw.

A year ago, in a 71-67 loss, McKnight stood on court, screaming at officials after his son’s three-pointer to tie the score was wiped out by a controversial offensive foul. There were no screams this time, however, as the Monarchs reached the title game for the third time in six seasons.

“I don’t look at this as getting over the hump or getting a monkey off our backs,” McKnight said. “We’ve gone to the State final before, but everyone remembered the last two seasons.”

The memories the Monarchs will try to etch this time involve a third state title. They have won in 1990 and 1987.

“I’m glad to go to Oakland, it’s been my dream,” said Clay McKnight, who has spent three years on the varsity waiting. “It would have been really nice to have beaten Crenshaw, but that didn’t happen.”

Instead, the Monarchs (35-1) had to settle for Clovis West (28-3), which beat Crenshaw, 67-62, Thursday. The Golden Eagles were in over their heads from the start.

Mater Dei had struggled against Los Angeles Fairfax Thursday, overcoming the Lions’ delay tactics for a 41-28 victory. They didn’t wait for another slow-down strategy.

The Monarchs led, 14-1, after four minutes and, 31-18, at halftime.

Whatever they did worked, with the Golden Eagles barely getting in the way. Mater Dei scored on nine of its first 10 possessions.

Schea Cotton started strong, as in the Southern Section Division I-A final last week, when he scored 30 points. He scored the first five points and had 10 at the end of the first quarter.

The only thing that seemed to slow the Monarchs was boredom. After a Cotton free throw gave the Monarchs a 23-7 lead, Mater Dei got sloppy.

Cotton scored only one point in the second quarter and McKnight couldn’t find the range on three-pointers. It was again left to Shaun Jackson to give Mater Dei some life.

Jackson had lifted the Monarchs against Fairfax, scoring 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter. He picked them up again, scoring 14 points in the first half.

He finished with 26 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots.

“They were too strong inside,” Clovis West Coach Vance Walberg said. “Jackson was too strong.”

He had help.

Cotton finished with 20 points, two coming on a reverse dunk off lob pass. He also had nine rebounds.

Meanwhile, Clovis West did little on offense that wasn’t done by Nathan Fast. He scored 10 in the first half and finished with 16.

Fast made three of six shots in the first half. His teammates were three of 17.

“Once we got down, we weren’t going to catch up,” Walberg said.

By the time the fourth quarter started, only two things were left to be decided: the winning margin and whether Clay McKnight would set a Orange County record for three-pointers.

He got it with 33 seconds left, with No. 130, one more than Capistrano Valley’s Tom Airey in 1991-92. It came from almost the exact same spot as the one that was disallowed a year ago.

“Yeah it was nice to make one from there that counted,” McKnight said.

A year later, that spot was just a stepping stone.

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DIVISION I GIRLS Mater Dei: 50

Clovis West: 47

DIVISION II GIRLS

Woodbridge: 53

Brea Olinda: 49