Mater Dei Calls On Its Reserve Power

The Mater Dei boys’ basketball team usually has the best starting five players in the county, if not the Southern Section.

The running joke among opponents, however, has been that the second-best team around has often been sitting on the Monarchs’ bench.

Friday night that was no joke.

Mater Dei, minus three key regulars, got ample production out of its reserves and had little trouble pounding Moreno Valley, 72-54, in a Southern Section Division I-A quarterfinal at Ocean View High.

Two higher-profile starters, guard Derrick Mansell (18 points, six assists, seven rebounds) and center Mike Bayer (21 points), led the way against the Vikings (20-8), but the game was most notable for who didn’t play and who did.

Missing was 6-10 sophomore center Jamaal Sampson (injured foot) and swingman Cedric Bozeman (injured knee). Guard Steve Scoggin, who left the game in the first quarter with a concussion and did not return, is expected back Tuesday for the semifinal against Simi Valley. But the others are listed as day-to-day, as is Bayer, who is recovering from mononucleosis.

Light-scoring guard Imran Sufi got a start, played 29 minutes and scored nine points and had four assists. His ball-handling became even more crucial when Scoggin left.

Center Erik Soderberg got a rare start and had eight points and three rebounds in 19 minutes.

Little-used guard Christian McGuigan had two points and two assists in more than 19 minutes.

Guard Ricky Porter scored seven points and had three rebounds in a little less than 13 minutes.

And much-heralded freshman guard Mike Strawberry, who has struggled to find his role, scored four points and had three assists in 14 minutes.

“We were kind of down going out onto the floor tonight,” Sufi said. “But once we got going it felt kind of comfortable.”

That included a 25-15 first-quarter lead thanks in part to four points, two steals and two assists from Sufi and a steal and an assist by Strawberry. The Monarchs made 10 of 15 field-goal attempts in the first quarter.

Moreno Valley made just one of its first 11 shots in the second quarter. McGuigan’s basket with 53 seconds left before halftime gave the Monarchs an 11-point lead and as the clock wound down McGuigan passed to Sufi who fed Strawberry for a buzzer-beater and a 35-22 lead.