orange finals

SoCal High School & Prep Report

33rd Orange Holiday Classic:
Santa Margarita Wins--(December 31, 1997)

It's going to be a long season for Mater Dei. Very long. And Gary McKnight knows the difference between a championship team and one that is beatable, young and inexperienced. While Mater Dei has some great potential, they're still about one to two years away from achieiving the same dominance they've had in the past.

And Santa Margarita last night proved that they are deserving of a number one ranking among Orange County teams by beating Mater Dei 55-52 to take the 33rd Annual Orange Holiday Classic title, their first ever. It was the first loss for Mater Dei to an Orange County opponent since Marina beat them in the CIF Southern Section Division I-A semifinals in the 1990-91 season. And to show just how far Santa Margarita has come, remember they lost in the first round of this tournament and were out of it early last year.

This was the kind of game that makes you love high school basketball. Raucous crowd, a few questionable calls, great competitive play, and it was for all the marbles. The battle between the parochial school powers. A packed Chapman University Hutton Sports Center. What a great game.

Santa Margarita got here by beating third-ranked Tustin, hammering them pretty convincingly in the semis 84-62, by using a suffocating zone defense to eliminate any inside game, forcing Tustin to go to an outside game. And even though Tustin hit for 10 three-pointers, they only had 13 points in each of the first three quarters, and shot only 10 of 35 from the line. In Monday night's semi, T.J. Williams (6'-0" Sr PG) of Santa Margarita was the leader with 22 points, and forward Ryan Forehan-Kelly (6'-4" Sr F) added 17. In fact the free throw shooting was probably what got SM to the final, as they hit for 19 of 25 from the line.

Mater Dei got to the finals by beating Fountain Valley,67-49. Fountain Valley was 7-4 going into the semi, and Mater Dei was 6-3, and was ranked eighth by the LA Times Orange County Edition. The semi was really no contest for Mater Dei, and they forced 18 turnovers with their pressure defense and steals, and outscored Fountain Valley, 54-39 during the last three quarters on the fine shooting of Mike Bayer (6'-6" Jr. F), who had 13 points, and Derek Mansell (6'-2" Jr. G), with 12.

So, Tuesday night. The Finals. Mater Dei v. Santa Margarita. 7-4 vs. 12-0. For the first time in recent memory, Mater Dei is the underdog. "They are very good," Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said of Santa Margarita to the LA Times and Orange County Registers following the game. "But this was also a good experience for us. This is the first time in a long time we've had to adjust to what other teams are doing instead of them adjusting to us. But I'm going to enjoy being the underdog for a while."

Mater Dei managed to give Santa Margarita a pretty good run for their money, never letting Santa Margarita get too far ahead. But Mater Dei really was no match offensively or defensively, and were outrebounded by the more aggressive and more physical SM team, 30-19. Another big difference in this game was the poor shooting from the field, as Mater Dei only shot 40%, 20 for 50.

At one point in the third quarter, it looked as though Mater Dei might actually have a chance. Early in the third quarter in what was really a very low scoring game up until that point, SM led 28-18, and then Mater Dei went on a 10-0 run, to tie the game with only about 4 minutes left in the quarter. Mater Dei kept it close throughout the third quarter and into the fourth, and at one point, on two pretty impressive layups by Mater Dei'sCedric Boseman (6'-3" Fr SG), the Monarchs actually took a 52-49 lead, with only about 2 minutes left in the game.

But Santa Margarita proved that they are a very well-coached, well disciplined team that knows how to stay calm under pressure. Even when Mater Dei took the lead, they never panicked, never lost their composure. In fact, during the rest of the game, Santa Margarita managed to hold Mater Dei scoreless.

During that same time, Craig Rice (6'-2" Sr G) of SM managed to hit a ten footer in the lane, to bring the score to 52-51, with about 1:20 showing on the clock, and then Dekker McKeever (6'-7" Sr F)--who has signed a national letter of intent with Holy Cross for next year--was fouled and went to the line, hitting both free throws with only 39 seconds left to make the score 53-52, Santa Margarita. As you would expect, the foul was controversial, and the crowd was tough. Tension everywhere. Great game. And Mater Dei still had a chance to win it.

Two possessions for Mater Dei in the final 39 seconds.

Two misses.

First Steve Scoggin (6'-2" So. G), who will definitely be a top prospect by the time he's a senior, let a 12-footer fly which missed.

SM 53, Mater Dei 52.

With about 20 seconds showing, Mater Dei then recovered the ball and Cedric Boseman (6'-3" Fr SG), Mater Dei's other future top prospect, let a 18' baseline shot fly, which missed on a heartbreak in-and-out shot, and Jake Rohe (6'-5" Sr F/C) of SM recovered the ball and was quickly fouled to stop the clock. He calmly made both free throws with only with five seconds showing on the clock to bring the score to 55-52, Santa Margarita.

Final. Done. Over.

For now.

As Santa Margarita coach Jerry DeBusk said after the game "This has all the makings of a great rivalry."

Congratulations to Santa Margarita, the 33rd Annual Orange Holiday Classic Champions, and to Mater Dei, the runners-up.

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In the third-place game, Fountain Valley (which had lost to Mater Dei), and Tustin, (which had lost to Santa Margarita) met for the consolation prize, and Fountain Valley left no doubt about who was the better team, at least for this game. Fountain Valley just pounded the No. 3 ranked Tustin Tillers, 73-45, going on an amazing 21-5 scoring spree in the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter to simply shut down Tustin. Fountain Valley (8-5) guard Ryan Moreau led all scorers with 20. Peter Johnson had 14 for Tustin before fouling out.

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In the Fifth Place game, Laguna Hills beat Valencia (Orange County) 54-47 in overtime. Bill Rietkerk scored four of his team-high 13 points in overtime as the Hawks (12-3) beat the Tigers (3-10).

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In the 11th place game, Esperanza beat Foothill 72-69. The Aztecs took a 15-point lead into the fourth quarter and held off a 38-point final quarter by Foothill. Foothill's Larry Cambra scored 19 of those 38 points in the fourth quarter for a game-high 27 points.

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In the 13thy place game, Kennedy beat Dana Hills 57-52, as Tony Jimmerson scored 15 points and Aaron Lewis added 13 to pace the Fighting Irish (7-7) over the Dolphins.

And if someone can send us an e-mail with the All Tournament and MVP selections, we'll put those up as well.

Congratulations again to all the participants and to the 1997 Orange Classic Champions Santa Margarita High from SoCalHoops.