Mater Dei Advances to I-A Final

Santa Ana Mater Dei’s boys’ basketball team advanced into another Southern Section final Tuesday night by defeating San Bernardino Pacific, 72-64, in a Division I-A game at Huntington Beach Ocean View.

But it was pretty darn ugly.

That was the general consensus in both camps after the teams combined to commit 45 fouls, make only 48 of 117 shots and commit 25 turnovers.

Not the sort of game one would expect at this point in the playoffs.

Nevertheless the Monarchs used a quick start to advance to their eighth final in nine seasons. They’ll play Simi Valley Saturday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

Mater Dei made nine of its first 11 shots to take an 18-8 lead six minutes into the game, then went 16 of 44 the rest of the way. The only one clicking down the stretch was senior guard Steve Scoggin, who led all scorers with 21 points.

Junior guard Cedric Bozeman scored 19 and had 11 assists.

Center Jamal Sampson, who opened the game with a pair of dunks, picked up his second foul less than three minutes into the game and had to take a seat. He spent most of the third quarter on the bench and fouled out with 7:26 left to play in the game.

In other games:

Lakewood Artesia 70, Pasadena Muir 36--Jack Martinez scored 20 points as the top-seeded Pioneers won the II-A semifinal at Pasadena Community College.

Franklin Mattos scored 16 points and Amaury Fernandez added 10 for Artesia.

Joseph Frazier scored 13 points for Muir.

Muir led, 11-10, at the end of the first quarter but Artesia pressed and forced multiple turnovers to pull away.

Brea Olinda 50, Inglewood 46--Brea advanced to the Division II-AA final despite making only one field-goal in the last 10 minutes at Placentia Valencia.

Brea will play the winner of tonight’s game between Compton Dominguez and Redondo Union, which is being played at Loyola Marymount.

Anthony Davis scored 16 points for Inglewood.

Huntington Beach Ocean View 71, Lakewood Mayfair 56--Guard Marques Crane scored 21 of his 23 points--including four three pointers--in the second half to lead the Seahawks to the II-A semifinal victory at Bellflower.

Torin Beeler added 19 points for Ocean View, which pulled away after being tied, 44-44, after three quarters.

Beeler and Ryan Westbrook helped hold Mayfair’s Josh Childress to eight points.

Long Beach St. Anthony 65, Pacific Hills 64--Pearson Smith scored 23 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter as St. Anthony overcame a 16-point deficit to win the V-AA semifinal at Brentwood.

Smith made a 30-foot shot with 10 seconds left to pull the the Saints to within 64-63.

Pearson stole the ball with five seconds left, passed to a teammate who missed a layup then tipped in the game-winner with one second left.

Downey Calvary Chapel 46, Campbell Hall 43--Tim Drisdom scored 16 points and had seven assists in the V-AA semifinal at Cerritos Valley Christian as the Grizzlies (25-5) advanced to the championship game for the first time.