SoCal High School & Prep Tourney News

Wooden Inaugural H.S. Invitational:
Mater Dei v. Crespi--(December 5,1997)

First, the score: Crespi lost 61-43. The "official" score was in fact 61-43. The guy from Mater Dei, however, who was keeping the stats on the DynaSport 600 (a portable stats computer which is a whole story itself) forgot to put in the last 4 points scored by Crespi. So that's why if you look in the Orange County Register, it only has the score at 61-39. Good thing Crespi didn't forget to put those last few baskets in.

Gary McKnight has compiled one of the most impressive coaching records in SoCal. 454-35, a .928 winning percentage. Mater Dei finished last season with a state semifinals appearance adn a 32-3 record. But that was a different team. But this team is still coached by McKnight, and that counts for a lot.

Crespi is coached by 29 year old first year head coach Dick Dornan, who is moving up from last year, having directed the Crespi JV to a 20-3 record. Dornan is a Crespi grad himself, and he was anxious to play this game. "You have to play the best to be the best" said Dornan. "Mater Dei is a premier team in the state each year. To go up against them is an honor and to play in the John Wooden Classic a definite privilege."

Dick Dornan is probably one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet, on or off the court. He's a true gentleman, and you can see why this first year varsity coach was invited to bring his team to the Wooden Classic's Inaugural High School event. He never got flustered, never screamed at his players, and was just one of the most well-behaved guys out there. Unfortunately for the Crespi guys, it seemed like they were being all too well behaved too, and when they seemingly had a chance to pull it out of the fire and at least make it a game, they all too often simply walked (a fast walk, but a walk nevertheless) the ball up to the half court. That is, they didn't seem to push it to the open men down low quite often enough. Maybe that's just because their guards couldn't see over some of the bigger Mater Dei defenders, or because the press and trap was too distracting, but Crespi just seemed to always run with pretty much the same play: Guard brings it up, and swings it over to the right side baseline, where Mater Dei doubles; the ball either then comes out to the point again, or swings to the weak side where the swingman puts up a bomb. Sometimes it fell, more often than not it didn't. Mater Dei is also a whole lot better than Gary McKnight has been letting on in the press and other media. He may have lost a whole bunch of starters, but there are some guys who can play out there wearing that MD on their chests.

So what happened? Well, for starters, Crespi just got murdered on bad shooting. According to the DynaSport 600 stats, Crespi shot 20.8 % on it's field goals in the first half (making 5 of 24), 25% on three point shots in the first half (hitting 1 for 4), and 50% on it's free throws (4 for 8) in the first half. The second half didn't get a whole lot better: Crespi shot 25.8% (8 for 31) from the field in the second half, only 10% (1 of 10) of its three point attempts in the second half, and just over .500 (538 to be exact) on free throws in the second half (7 for 13). Overall, Crespi only shot 23% from the floor the entire game. Nobody had double figures. The high scorers for Crespi were Andy Owings, Blake Tibbetts, and Jon Bird, none of whom started.

Now that is just some pretty miserable shooting, and is not going to get a game won unless a team has just a smothering defense and can make the other team shoot even worse. Alas, it didn't happen, and Mater Dei shot a whole lot better, but not by much, hitting 37% from the field in the game (21 for 56) and not doing much better from three point range either, going 1 for 7 from three point range. But they made shot a lot better from the line, going 18 for 27, and just played a lot better.

The scoring by period, if you're interested went like this:

So look what happened. Crespi loses the first quarter, but only by 5. Then they just get killed in the second period, being outscored 3 to 1. At the half they trailed 34-15, by 19 points. Then they got 3 points back during the third quarter, but still trailed by 16, 45-29. In the fourth, they lost another two points, to lose by 18, 43-61. So what went wrong for Crespi? Like we said before, poor shooting. In fact Crespi never led in this game.

It wasn't the rebounding or the turnovers that made the difference. Both teams had 16 turnovers. There was only 4 rebounds difference between the two, Crespi with 33 total rebounds, and Mater Dei with 37.

But it was the shooting and Mater Dei's defense which made all the defense in the game. Mater Dei had 11 steals (Steve Scoggin had 5, a team high

So what did we see that was good. Actually quite a lot of talent.

Pat Dornan didn't play a lot, but when he did he played well, hitting one of Crespi's only two 3 pointers. He's a pretty good outside shooter, but we wish he would have done more of it last night.

Pat Casella is just a very intense player. Great defense, good lateral quickness and nice hands and feet around the ball. He finished with 5 points, but looks like he can play a lot better than he did. When he cam in at the point during the third quarter he pushed the ball up very well, and in large part was responsible for Crespi winning the third quarter. Again, unfortunately for Crespi, there's four quarters, not one. Cassella is a very capable point guard, but he was prone to turnovers; he had 4 himself.

Blake Tibbets also plays well, and has a very nice baseline shot, which just wasnt' falling last night. He also was the only shining light on the free-throw line for Crespi, shooting 5 for 6 from the line, getting 3 rebounds.

John Bird was the rebound king for Crespi, with 9, 4 offensive and 5 defensive boards. He's a pretty wide-body kind of guy, and a very hard worker under the boards. He also shot about as well as anyone, hitting for 7, but missing on his only three point shot. He played 16 minutes and hustled in every one of them.

The two Johnsons, Howard and Jordan also seemed to be playing well during the first half, but just seemed to disappear during the second half, and in fact Howard only played 9:54, while Jordan only played 8:02. We think that these guys are really much better they played last night, but getting only 4 points between them, it's understandable why they sat.

Andy Owings also played well, alternating at the point, pushing the ball, distributing, and getting 7 points in the game. We also wished he'd played more, because he tends to play with a seeming sense of urgency, not at all relaxed, and in large part he was responsible for the third quarter scoring.

One thing we'd like to see Crespi work on is their assists. This is a team which should be getting 30 or more assists each game. Of course, if the shot isn't dropping, then it's tough to record an assist. But the difference between victory and defeat also shows in the assists for the two teams. Mater Dei had 20 in the game; Crespi only had 6. Six, in a whole game. That's just awful. It's nothing they can't work out by the time league play starts, and we are confident that they can do it with their excellent passing skills. But the point guards just need to distribute the ball a whole lot sooner, and more often.

Here's the oddest stat of the night. The "official" DynaSport actually has Tim McDonough of Crespi at "-2" points for the game. I don't remember him scoring in the 20:40 he played either, but I don't remember him losing any points either. McDonough did his fair share of rebounding, played pretty well defensively and actually made one of the six assists.

Crespi is a young team, and it showed last night. But they'll get a whole lot better as the year goes on, and we still think that they'll be tough competitors in the Mission League.

As for Mater Dei, we suspect that McKnight is either modest or he's just playing with everyone's head, telling us all that this is "the most beatable Mater Dei team in years". While that may be true, in comparison to teams from past years, this year's squad is going to challenge for the league and will, we believe, make it deep into the playoffs.

Imran Sufi, came in second during the three-point shooting contest with Casey Jacobsen which was run right after the Mater Dei game, each of them shooting 7 apiece the first round, and then 7 again; Jacobsen made his eighth shot, to win. Now that was fun. During the game, he was probably one of the least visible players on the floor, but still played an integral role. He's small at 5'-10", but we like the way he plays. Very smooth shot, and nice poise on the floor. He only had 4 points but will come along nicely for McKnight. He played 12 minutes at the point and did a very capable job. He's not the quickest or the best handle, but he's a true point, pushing the ball, and passing first, shooting second.

The big story for Mater Dei though was the outstanding play of guard Steve Scoggin, who just personally killed Crespi. Scoggin played almost 23 minutes and scored 16 points, hitting on 6 for 12 from the field, and 3 of 4 free throw attempts. He also hit on one monster three point shot from about 27' out. He plays with a determined intensity, and runs the floor like a general, picking his spots and moving through almost seemingly at will. We're sure that during the year he'll see tougher defenses, but he has a nice first step, great speed, and we think that this 10th grader will be a major prospect. At 6'-1" he's got good size, and he's probably not finished growing yet either. In addition to Scoggin's 16 points, he had 7 assists and 3 steals. He needs to work on his ball control a bit since 5 turnovers is going to hurt him against a better scoring team.

Mike Bayer was another big man for Mater Dei, and he had 17 points. However like the game before with Ayala and Glendora, no one really likes to play the low post game anymore, and it's a shame, because Bayer could have had 50 points. He's got nice bulk, and the ability to just back in and establish position. He had 10 rebounds and 1 assist. Only a double-double. Oh well.

Erik Soderberg is also a player we think you'll be hearing from in the next few years. He's just a 9th grader, but he's already 6'-6". We met his father (who played for Lute Olsen as a high school player in Orange County) and he's got to be about 6'-9" himself, so we think Erik's probably not done growing yet). He didn't score to speak of (only 1 point in 21 minutes, but he did manage to pull down 6 rebounds, 3 at both ends. He's a pretty lanky guy, and if he puts on a few pounds he should be a major prospect by the time he's a junior.

Derrick Mansell played well, getting 9 points, and he's a very capable shooting guard type. He's only a junior and this year will be a real learning experience for him. Ryan Stacey also equaled the high shooting of the Crespi players, hitting for 7 points in only 12 minutes. If we've forgotten anyone, we apologize, but there was just a lot to see and watch.

Ok, two games down, one to go. Only another hour of basketball left. Here we go. On to DeMatha v. Los Alamitos.

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