Mater Dei Has Way With Oak Hill, 84-72

Maybe it’s the rims at the Pyramid. Or maybe because their games have started after 12:30 a.m. Eastern ime. Whatever the reason, there’s something about the Nike Extravaganza that brings out the worst in Oak Hill Academy, from Mouth of Wilson, Va.

The Warriors, the consensus top-ranked boys’ basketball team in the nation, suffered their second consecutive defeat at the Pyramid in Long Beach as Mater Dei led from wire to wire Saturday night in an 84-72 victory before a near-capacity crowd.

The upset, one of the biggest in Gary McKnight’s 20 years as Mater Dei coach, ended Oak Hill’s 65-game winning streak. The Warriors’ last loss came against Compton Dominguez in the 2000 Nike Extravaganza. Oak Hill did not play here last season.

Mater Dei, No. 3 in The Times’ Southland rankings, opened the game on an 8-0 run and never trailed. The Monarchs (21-4) led by five points at halftime and by nine at the end of the third quarter before extending their lead to as many as 17 in the fourth quarter.

Wesley Washington finished with 25 points for Mater Dei, which received several standing ovations during the fourth quarter.

Justin Gray had 25 points and Carmelo Anthony added 24 for Oak Hill (23-1), which closed to within 39-36 early in the second quarter on a Sani Ibrahim basket. But Trevante Nelson hit a three-pointer and made a putback to put the Monarchs safely ahead.

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St. Louis Vashon 70, Long Beach Poly 60--The Jackrabbits had the home-court edge and the lead against nationally ranked Vashon--for two minutes. But after Jackrabbit forward Bobby Jones drove in for a dunk off the opening tip, just about everything went the Wolverines’ way.

Vashon (21-1), ranked as high as No. 7, used a 12-0 run in the second quarter to take control against the turnover-prone and largely listless Jackrabbits (22-3), No. 4 in The Times’ Southland rankings.

Jones, who finished with a game-high 22 points, was the only Jackrabbit displaying much aggressiveness for a team that committed 18 turnovers. Poly shot only 37.5% from the field in the first half and fell behind, 36-21, at the half.

Vashon’s lead ballooned to as many as 20 points on two occasions in the third quarter after a three-pointer and baseline drive by Dwayne Polk (18 points). Nicholas Kern added 17 points and Donnie Jackson had 14 for the Wolverines. Vashon’s leading scorer, Missouri-bound guard Jimmy McKinney, was held to 10 points on four-of-13 shooting.

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Villa Park 66, Crenshaw 65--Forward Brice Prather, who finished with 22 points, made two free throws with four seconds left to lift the Spartans (23-3) past the No. 17 Cougars (17-7). Crenshaw’s Derrick Clark missed a 15-foot leaning jumper at the buzzer.

Crenshaw led, 65-64, after Clark was fouled on a short pull-up jumper and made one of two free throws with 27 seconds left. Guard Marcus Williams led the Cougars with 14 points and forward Onyekachi Ibekwe had 12. Guard Kyle Hogan hit four of eight three-pointers and had 20 points for Villa Park, which outrebounded Crenshaw, 36-27.

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Henderson (Nev.) Green Valley 53, Santa Margarita 50--Lenny Collins’ three-pointer with 10 seconds to play rattled in and out as the Gators (22-4) held off the No. 8 Eagles (19-4).

Green Valley, the third-ranked team in Nevada, won without having a scorer in double figures. Mitch Platt and Ron Dunlap scored nine points apiece and Jonathan Osborne added eight for the Gators.

Collins, who led Santa Margarita with 20 points, could have tied the score at 51 with his late three-pointer, but the ball bounced out of the rim and was rebounded by Platt, who put the game out of reach by hitting two free throws with five seconds to go.

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La Habra Sonora 57, Corona Centennial 40-- Less than 24 hours after losing to sub-.500 Fullerton Troy, Sonora (17-8) rebounded to upset the No. 7 Huskies behind strong efforts from Jacob Trejo, La Rence Knight and Travis Rogers. Trejo finished with 16 points, Knight added 11 and Rogers had 10.

J.R. Reese led Centennial (20-3) with 19 points.