Porter Shifts Monarchs Into Higher Gear

Mater Dei was not going to let history repeat itself, not here, not on this grand stage against the team that knocked it out of the playoffs last year one step short of the state championship game.

The Monarchs led Fresno Clovis West by five points early in the fourth quarter Saturday in the Southern California Regional Division I championship game, just as they had last year before collapsing down the stretch.

For a moment, doubts started creeping into senior guard Ricky Porter’s mind. “I thought, ‘This could be it again,’ ” Porter said. “But the seniors had been talking. We weren’t going to let that happen.”

Porter made sure of it personally, scoring 16 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as top-seeded Mater Dei pulled away from Clovis West for an 80-62 victory before an announced crowd of 10,234 at the Forum.

Porter could have added to his point total in the final minute but instead decided to punctuate the victory with an assist. He had the basket all to himself on a breakaway but paused under the basket and passed to trailing guard Cedric Bozeman for a monster dunk that sent the Mater Dei fans into a frenzy.

“This is what we’ve been playing for all year,” said Mater Dei center Jamal Sampson. “If we didn’t make it [to the state final], it would have been a disappointing season.”

The Monarchs (32-2) outscored the Eagles, 27-10, in the fourth quarter as they steadily built on the 53-52 lead they established at the end of the third. Sampson finished with 20 points, 15 rebounds and eight blocked shots for the Monarchs, who shot 76.2% from the field in the second half.

Mater Dei will try to win its fourth state championship and first since 1995 when it faces Modesto Christian in the title game next Saturday in Sacramento. Modesto Christian beat Concord De La Salle, 72-53, Saturday in the Northern Regional final.

The Monarchs, who last appeared in a state final in 1999, losing to Oakland Fremont, also won state titles in 1990 and ’87.

Bozeman had 17 points on seven-of-10 shooting for Mater Dei, which broke open a tight game after switching to a four-guard lineup that befuddled Clovis West’s press in the second half. Guards Porter, Bozeman, Brian Baker and Shaun Michel handled the ball with aplomb late against a defense that forced eight first-half turnovers.

“I’m just happy right now,” Bozeman said as he sat in the jubilant Mater Dei locker room afterward. “I don’t know what to say.”

Clovis West, the state runner-up last season, made only one of 15 three-point shots in the second half. The Eagles (31-3) led by five points early in the third quarter after guard Chris Hernandez made a three-pointer, but lost their shooting touch the rest of the way. Hernandez led Clovis West with 19 points and Nick Debban had 18.

Mater Dei’s offensive explosion in the fourth quarter was keyed by a great defensive effort. Sampson tipped balls, blocked four shots and generally wreaked havoc inside against a team whose tallest player, Debban, is 6 feet 4.

The Monarchs opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run sparked by two Porter layups and a nifty play by Bozeman, who caught a pass in midair and pushed it into the basket. Later, Porter sealed the victory with back-to-back reverse layups that gave Mater Dei a 71-57 lead with about two minutes left.

Porter, who also came up big in the fourth quarter of the Monarchs’ semifinal victory over Upland, is beginning to rival Sampson and Bozeman as an offensive weapon.

“I think people overlook him,” Sampson said. “Sometimes, they take him lightly, and that’s to his advantage.”

Clovis West led at halftime, 39-35, after closing the second quarter with a 12-4 run. After Michel drove the lane and laid the ball in to give the Monarchs a 31-27 lead, Eagle guard Tyrone Jackson started the charge with a three-pointer, one of six in the first half for Clovis West.

Jason Walberg followed with a pair of free throws to give the Eagles their first lead of the game, 32-31, and Jackson then added to the lead when he drove and scored. Bozeman momentarily halted the run with a basket inside, but Debban answered with a bucket of his own to extend the lead to 36-33.