Mater Dei Misses Its Last Shots

This time things came up just a bit short for the Mater Dei boys’ basketball team.

A couple of inches short, that is.

Steve Scoggin, the Monarchs’ top free-throw shooter, went to the line with a chance to pull his team to within two points with 19.9 seconds to play against Compton Dominguez in the Dream Classic Monday at Pauley Pavilion.

But both of his attempts clanked off the front of the rim and Dominguez held on for a 64-58 victory.

Mater Dei (18-3), which never led, trailed 47-30 with 1:42 left in the third quarter but tied it at 58-58 when Cedric Bozeman drove through a congested lane for a spinning layup with 1:14 to play.

But those would be the last points for the Monarchs, even after Dominguez (15-2) brought back memories of Michigan’s Chris Webber in the 1993 NCAA championship game by calling a timeout it didn’t have. That resulted in a technical foul that sent Scoggin to the free-throw line with 19.9 seconds to play.

On the ensuing possession, Dominguez’s 7-foot sophomore center Tyson Chandler blocked a shot by Derrick Mansell, resulting in a Ronald Jackson layup at the other end to seal the game.

“I’m still shocked that [Scoggin] missed,” Dominguez Coach Russell Otis said. “All I saw was him hitting those two free throws and then [Imran] Sufi coming in and hitting a three to win.”

Sufi made a game-winning three-pointer the last time these teams met, in the Las Vegas Christmas Classic last month. There would be no such opportunity this time.

“He’ll make nine out of 10 of those,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said of Scoggin, who came into the game having made 77% (43 of 56) of his free throw attempts. “[Dominguez] was way more hungry than we were, especially in the first half.”

The Monarchs, who overcame a 17-point deficit to defeated Capistrano Valley in double overtime two weeks ago, nearly did it again.

With Chandler out much of the second half with four fouls, the Monarchs attacked.

Bozeman scored five points in a 10-2 run that pulled Mater Dei within 36-30 with 3:57 left in the third and Mike Bayer had five points in a 9-2 Mater Dei run that pulled the Monarchs within 49-39 by the end of the third quarter.