Monarchs Have an Easy Time of It Against Glendora

Maybe Glendora should add a couple of broadcasters to its roster the next time it plays Mater Dei.

After all, broadcasters were the only ones able to slow the top-seeded Monarchs, who rolled to a 75-38 victory over the Tartans in the first round of the Southern California Regional Division I boys’ basketball playoffs Tuesday at Ocean View High.

The broadcasters delayed the start of the game while they finished their pregame report, then delayed the beginning of the fourth quarter while a sideline reporter interviewed UCLA Coach Steve Lavin about his next phenom, Mater Dei guard Cedric Bozeman.

Glendora didn’t fare as well in slowing the Monarchs. The Tartans (27-5) allowed many easy baskets, shot 25% from the field and committed 28 turnovers against a team that knows how to take advantage of mistakes.

Bozeman impressed as usual, with 17 points on eight-of-11 shooting. Mater Dei guard Mike Strawberry also had a good game, scoring 14 of his game-high 18 points in the third quarter as the Monarchs pulled away.

Mater Dei (30-2) will get a tougher test Thursday against Upland (32-1) in a semifinal at Ocean View. The Highlanders, who Tuesday defeated San Diego Torrey Pines, 80-67, blew out Glendora twice during the regular season.

“I’d pay to see that matchup,” said Glendora center Spencer Foster, who was held to three points Tuesday. “Those are two very athletic teams. I don’t know who would win that one.”

Foster didn’t get a taste of the real Mater Dei, though. Monarch Coach Gary McKnight decided to rest center Jamal Sampson, who is nursing injuries in both feet, even though he was available to play.

“Jamal said he was feeling good,” McKnight said. “It was the best he’s felt in a while. But I’d rather try to only use him in only two games this week instead of three.”

McKnight said he would have inserted Sampson into the game Tuesday if Glendora had pulled within single digits, and the Tartans nearly did at the end of the first half.

Guard Kyle Bechler, with 17 points the only Glendora player in double figures, hit consecutive three-pointers late in the second quarter as the Tartans trimmed their deficit to 29-17 at half-time.

That prompted McKnight to issue personal challenges to a handful of players in his locker room speech. “We weren’t finishing and we weren’t patient,” McKnight said of his team’s first-half play.

Said Strawberry: “It was really sloppy and our shots weren’t falling. We can’t do that and win.”

So Strawberry took it upon himself to turn things around in the third quarter. He scored 10 points on three easy baskets in the paint, a pair of free throws and a layup as Mater Dei went on a 14-0 run to open the second half.

“He got going there in the third quarter,” McKnight said.

Several Mater Dei reserves played well in the fourth quarter. Guard Trevante Nelson hit two three-pointers and fed Wesley Washington on a spectacular alley-oop dunk. Also, forward Travis Delgado hit three jump shots and finished with six points.