Dominguez Gets Past Mater Dei

Compton Dominguez’s boys’ basketball team lost to Santa Ana Mater Dei last month on a three-point shot at the buzzer.

And it looked as if the Dons, who rebounded from the defeat to become the top-ranked team in the state, might suffer an identical fate Monday night.

With his team trailing by four points, Mater Dei guard Steve Scoggin stepped to the line for two free throws after Dominguez was called for a technical foul with 19.9 seconds left.

But Scoggin, a 77% free-throw shooter, missed both attempts. Dominguez’s 7-foot sophomore center Tyson Chandler blocked the Monarchs’ final shot, and the Dons escaped with a 64-58 victory before 6,000 in the featured game of the seven-game Dream Classic at Pauley Pavilion.

Marcus Moore, a senior guard who transferred to Dominguez from Redondo Union this season, scored a team-high 14 points for the Dons, who improved to 14-2.

With Chandler on the bench in foul trouble early in the third quarter, Moore scored seven points as the Dons built a lead that reached 17 points when Ronald Jackson made a three-point shot with 1:31 left in the quarter.

Fourth-ranked Mater Dei (18-3) fought its way back to tie, 58-58, on a driving shot by Cedric Bozeman with 1:14 left in the game.

Dominguez then went back up by four and had the ball out of bounds with 19.9 seconds left. But guard Jaffus Haley was pressured while attempting to inbound a pass and called for a timeout.

The problem? Dominguez was out of timeouts.

Dominguez Coach Russell Otis agonized as Scoggin went to the line for two free throws after the technical foul was assessed.

“All I saw was Scoggin hitting both and [Mater Dei’s Imran Sufi] coming in to hit a three,” Otis said.

OTHER GAMES

Casey Jacobsen made 16 of 22 shots and finished with 43 points as Glendora defeated Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley, 66-48. . . . Jonathan Stokes made a three-point shot with 34 seconds left to give Crenshaw a 67-65 victory over Compton. . . . Andrew Zahn scored 21 points and had 16 rebounds to lead Redondo Union to a 55-41 victory over Inglewood. . . . Darion Dale scored his only basket of the game with five seconds left in overtime to give Long Beach Jordan a 66-65 victory over Verbum Dei. . . . Rafael Berumen scored 22 points and had 12 rebounds to lead Simi Valley to a 64-61 victory over Fairfax. . . . James Wright scored 28 points as Manual Arts defeated Long Beach Poly, 72-63.