This Time De La Salle Defeats Mater Dei

It didn’t take long for Mater Dei to realize it was in trouble Saturday night against Concord De La Salle in the Nike Extravaganza at the Pyramid in Long Beach.

The Spartans outhustled the Monarchs in almost every aspect in the first quarter.

And although Mater Dei was only down by two heading to the second quarter, things were not very promising considering that guard Cedric Bozeman had scored all 10 Monarch points.

Indeed, the tone had been set as the Spartans went on to a 55-51 victory that ended Mater Dei’s 17-game winning streak and exacted revenge for a narrow loss to the Monarchs earlier this season.

“The first couple of minutes of the game they chased down a couple of loose balls and it was 10-2 [in De La Salle’s favor],” said Bozeman, who scored seven points the rest of the way. “They just outhustled us.”

Mater Dei (25-2) took brief two-point leads in the second and third quarters before the Spartans (18-1) put together a 14-5 run at the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth to surge ahead, 44-37.

The Monarchs tried to rally but couldn’t get a basket when they needed it most. With just a little more than two minutes to play, guard Matt Leinert missed three consecutive shots under the basket. On Mater Dei’s next possession, guard Steve Scoggin (a game-high 22 points) missed a three-pointer. And the next time down the floor, forward Mike Strawberry missed two free throws.

De La Salle made six of 10 free throws in the final minute to seal the victory. Chris Schlatter finished with 17 points for the Spartans.

The Monarchs played without 6-foot-11 center Jamal Sampson, who played five minutes in Mater Dei’s victory over Santa Margarita earlier in the week after sitting out the previous nine games with the flu. Sampson scored 14 points in the Monarchs’ victory over the Spartans earlier this season.

“I’d like to see them with the big guy,” De La Salle Coach Frank Allocco said. “If we both do what we can do [in the playoffs], we’ll see them again.”

In other games:

Villa Park 62, Bellflower St. John Bosco 56--Freshman center Sean Phaler scored 16 points and junior guard Tommy Stankan added 13 as the Spartans, ranked sixth in Division I-A, held on.

Junior forward Kyle Egkan had 12 points and junior guard Tony Bryant added seven points and six assists for Villa Park, which held St. John Bosco to 37.3% shooting from the field.

Santa Margarita 56, Glendora 36--Junior center Adam Tancredi scored 14 points to lead a balanced scoring attack as the Eagles, ranked fifth in Division II-AA, pounded the Tartans, ranked fourth in Division I-AA.