Loss Could Be Helpful to Monarchs

From Gary McKnight, Mater Dei boys’ basketball coach, reflecting on Friday’s loss to Dana Hills--the Monarchs’ first league defeat in 72 games: “If it had been a senior team that had a part in many of the wins, the loss would have been more meaningful to them. But we only have three seniors--who don’t play that much--and our other returners are a sophomore [Steve Scoggin] and a junior [Mike Bayer].

“What you have to do from losses is learn from them. We don’t want to continue in a losing spiral,” he said. “You work to get better, which is what young teams have to do. But, again, this is a young team. If you had told me in the summer that at this point in the season we would be 10-5, I would have been happy.”

Dana Hills Coach Mark Thornton said Friday’s victory, a personal milestone of sorts, may go down as one of the biggest in his school’s history.

“Obviously, when you beat Mater Dei, it’s a feather in your cap,” he said. “My kids are really proud of it. Of all the coaches in Orange County, I probably have played Gary [McKnight] more than anybody and this is the second time I have beaten him. I can count 20 or 30 times he beat me when I was at Capistrano Valley or here.”

Dana Hills fell below .500 for much of their nonleague schedule.

“We struggled because we were missing our three guards,” Thornton said. “We lost starter Johnny Shields with an injury and the other two [Kevin Gasparro and Darvell Meyers] are out for the year with knee injuries. We just didn’t have the firepower when we were losing those games. Johnny is back and he makes our team go.”