Game of the Day

By Eric Sondheimer and Ben Bolch

Feb. 13, 2009 12 AM PT

GAME OF THE DAY

Reseda (19-6, 9-0) at Sylmar (17-7, 8-1)

Tonight at 7.

Why it matters: Reseda is trying to lock up the Valley Mission League championship and convince the people in charge of seeding in the City Section that it deserves the No. 1 spot for the Division II playoffs. Sylmar is hoping to earn a share of the league title and improve its Division I seeding. In the first meeting, Sylmar had trouble with Reseda’s full-court press and was beaten, 90-85.

-- Eric Sondheimer

THURSDAY’S RESULT

No. 1 Santa Ana Mater Dei 97, at No. 22 Orange Lutheran 71

Leading contributors: Senior forward Travis Wear scored 34 points and junior guard Gary Franklin Jr. had 15 for Mater Dei. Freshman guard Gabe York scored 18 points for Orange Lutheran.

The scoop: Mater Dei had a 57-21 halftime lead. “They were all over us,” Orange Lutheran Coach Chris Nordstrom said. “They were as good as I’ve seen them all year in the first half.”

Why it matters: The Monarchs completed an undefeated regular season and remained in the hunt for a mythical national championship. “Coach [Gary] McKnight is chasing that national title and he has to keep winning to get there,” Nordstrom said.

Records: Mater Dei 26-0, 10-0; Orange Lutheran 23-5, 8-2.

-- Ben Bolch

High School Sports

Eric Sondheimer

Eric Sondheimer is the prep sports columnist for the Los Angeles Times. He has been honored seven times by the California Prep Sportswriters Assn. for best prep sports column.

Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

Game of the Day

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