SoCalHoops High School News

CIF SoCal Division I Regional Final:
Mater Dei 68, Artesia 55. . . In Overtime--(March 13, 1999)

We weren't there, so we'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about what really happened, but Artesia, the odds-on favorite to win the State Division I this year, is no longer the favorite.  They were beaten, pretty decisively, by a Mater Dei team which continues to surprise everyone.   Mater Dei will now play the Fremont Tigers of Oakland, who beat Concord De La Salle 55-50, as Josh Shavies of Fremont scored 20 points on 10-12 shooting from the field.   The State Championship game will be played at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento on March 20.

But back to the Mater Dei v. Artesia game.   So what happened?  Well, we really can't be exactly certain (since we were at the Pyramid, watching Dominguez absolutely crush Fresno Edison) but here's what the stats say happened:   

With the score tied 53-53 at the end of regulation, Mater Dei managed to outscore Artesia 15-2 in the overtime period to pull out the win.  Really, all we've got is a box score and alll the stats, but let's see if we can make some sense of this.

First, the scoring by quarters.

Mater Dei, as a team shot .488 from the field (21/43), .375 from three point range (3/8), and .742 from the line making 23 of 31 attempts.  In the first half, they shot 12 of 24 from the field, 3 of 4 from three point land, and missed all 4 of their free throw attempts.  In the second half (including the overtime), they made 9 of 19 from the field (.474), missed all four three-point attempts, and made 23 of 27 free throw attmepts.  23 of 27!  That's a huge amount of foul shots, and in comparison, in the second half, Artesia only went to the line 11 times and they made 12 of 21 attempts (.571).

Looking at team fouls, Mater Dei committed a total of 19, while Artesia was called for 27 fouls in the game, and that looks like it was a key factor in the win.  Because it sure wasn't shooting that did it for Mater Dei.

Steve Scoggin couldn't buy a basket, as he went 1 for 4 from three point range, 6 of 12 from the field, but he was a perfect 5 for 5 from the line to lead Mater Dei with 18 points. 

We also don't know whether Mater Dei's studious attention to game films of Jason Kapono made the difference or whether it was the injury which Jason suffered in the Glendora game to his left ankle and foot.  But Mater Dei managed to hold Jason to just 4 pooints in the game, and he played 27:55 of the game.   Jason shot 1 for 10 from the field, 0-2 from three-point land, and 2 for 2 from the line. He managed 4 rebounds, and only 1 assist and 2 turnovers.

The high scorer in the game was Jack Martinez, who hit for 21 of Artesia's 55, on nearly perfect shooting.  He was 8 for 10 from the field, 0 for 1 from three, and 5 for 10 from the line.  Jack managed 4 rebounds and fouled out of the game after playing 29:48, and we're pretty sure that his fouling out also played a major role in the outcome.

In fact, looking at the overall fouling situation here's what it looked like:

Only Jamal Sampson fouled out for Mater Dei.   Two players (Mike Strawberry and Mike Bayer) had four fouls at the end of the game.   No one else had more than 3, and only 1 player (Derrick Mansell) had 3. Imran Sufi had one foul in 33 minutes of playing time, and Erik Soderberg had 2 fouls in 11:23.

In contrast, Ryan Reyes fouled out. Andre Hazel fouled out. And Jack Martinez fouled out.  Apolinar Fernandez had 4 fouls in 26:58; Jon Steffansson had 4 fouls in 25:01;  Franklin Matos had 2, Aaron Hamilton had 2.

Again, it looks like fouls and a complete collapse in the overtime doomed Artesia.

The complete scoring for Mater Dei (starters are indicated with an asterisk *):

The scoring for Artesia was as follows:

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