San Bernardino Pacific Halts Mater Dei’s Run for Title

Mater Dei’s reign in the Southern Section, which lasted six consecutive years, has ended.

The Monarchs’ demise became official Tuesday when Mater Dei lost to San Bernardino Pacific in the boys’ Division I-A semifinal, 70-69, at San Gorgonio High.

It took a last-second shot by Pacific center Demond Huff to deny Mater Dei another trip to the final.

Mater Dei had taken a 69-68 lead on Steve Henderson’s free throw with 23 seconds left. He missed his second attempt, which Huff rebounded.

The Pirates called timeout to set up a final shot. Guard Chris Smith dribbled until the clock showed less than 10 seconds, drove the lane and forced up a shot that missed everything.

Huff--who scored 15 points and had a game-high nine rebounds despite four fouls--grabbed the ball, spun toward the basket and laid in the game winner as time ran out.

“I saw the ball clean, grabbed it and just put it in,” said the 6-10 Huff, the lone starting senior at Pacific. “I didn’t know how much time was left, but I knew it counted.”

The loss, which ended Mater Dei’s season at 21-8, was harder on Coach Gary McKnight then he expected it to be.

“If you had told me before the season that we would have reached the semis I would gladly have taken it,” McKnight said. “But then to get this close . . .

“And it should not have been this close. I give [Pacific] credit. They played hard and played well. But we made too many turnovers [21] for this kind of game.”

The Mater Dei defense took out Pacific’s Chaun Ballard, who scored only eight points.

The Monarchs shot well enough (51%) to take a 31-26 halftime lead and survive a 19-7 Pirate run in the third quarter that enabled Pacific to lead after three quarters, 52-48.

But along with the turnovers, the Monarchs were blindsided by Huff.

“He played better than on any game film we watched,” McKnight said.

Also causing problems was reserve guard Bobby Tossetti, who made five three-pointers (in 10 attempts) and scored 17 points.

Pacific, 22-8, goes on to the championship game against the Riverside North-Glendora winner Saturday at the Pond. And it will wipe out several years of frustration.

The Pirates were playing in their third consecutive semifinal. But they had never advanced to the final.

Mater Dei forward Mike Bayer led all scorers with 21.