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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Jason Day At The Nike Extravaganza III: Mater Dei v.
No.1 (?) in Nation St. Patrick--(February 8, 1998)

As you know from the Dominguez v. Oak Hill report, our trusted and trusty reporter Jason Day was at the Bren Center in Irvine yesterday for the Nike Extravaganza III. Here's his second report on the St. Patrick's v. Mater Dei game. And, as always, whether you agree or disagree with anything Jason says, don't blame us, since we choose not to exercise very much editorial control over content; we just present it as he writes it. If you want to talk to him, he can be reached at elgee333@pacbell.net . Here's the report:

ST. PATRICK NUMBER 1? A "MATER" OF OPINION

MATER DEI STUNS EAST COAST POWERHOUSE 81-76

By Jason Day

Exclusive to SoCalHoops

If you follow my reports you know that I don’t usually put the final score up front unless it was an expected outcome, or a blowout, or some other obvious finish.

Surely I can’t be saying that Mater Dei was expected to beat this team.

After all this was "this" year’s Mater Dei Monarchs. The ones who were rebuilding. The ones without Vukovitch, without Augustine. With young players. The ones who barely beat Dana Hills (DANA HILLS??) by 2 points the night before. The ones who lost to Serra, the most up and down group of guys since the Flying Walendas. No way this team is gonna beat the USA Today Number One team in the nation. Right?

Wrong.

And frankly, from my vantagepoint, it was just about over by the end of the first quarter. I decided at that point that if Mater Dei could keep up the intensity they had, and if St. Patrick stayed with their offensive strategy, and continued to play some of the worst team defense I’ve seen from a "powerhouse" team, then this was gonna be over, and pronto.

Are you ready for this? The St. Patrick "Leprechauns" (I will try to resist all of the obvious tags and bags) started three kids who were 6’-8" and above. Al Harrington (6’-9" Sr PF) is considered one of the top 5 players, at any position, in the country. Junior Sam Dalembert is 6’-11" with some serious skills. Throw in Jermaine Clark (6’-5" Sr SG/SF), and Mater Dei looks like the "wee" ones.

So since the tallest starting Monarch was Mike Bayer (6’-6" Jr F/C), you would expect St. Pat to come out with a fairly simple inside strategy. Right?

Wrong.

Both teams spent most of the first quarter lobbing bombs from the perimeter. For Mater Dei that made sense, for St. Patrick it confused the hell out of me. Their guards repeatedly came down and made maybe 1 or 2 passes, usually to each other, and threw up the J.

Harrington, an obviously gifted player who was held back by a poor game plan and tenacious defense, was left to get his on offensive putbacks. The outside shooting was clicking for Mater Dei but not for St. Pat. At the end of the first quarter the score was Mater Dei 20, St. Patrick 16.

In the second, Mater Dei had already established which one was the harder working team. The Monarchs were everywhere, with stellar contributions on both ends from everybody. On offense they used motion and screens to perfection to get easy looks at the basket against St. Pat’s alternate matchup and man-to-man half court offense. On defense they pressured the ball and rotated very well on the weak side. They contested just about every shot St. Pat could get off. They simply out hustled and outplayed St. Pat.

At 2:40 to go in the half, Mater Dei had just finished a 15-5 run that put them up 35-21. Much of that explosion was keyed by Steve Henderson (6’-4 So SG) who was 3 for 3 from 3 in the half. Steve Scoggin (6’-1" So. G) was also 3 for 4 from 3. Add one from junior guard Derrick Mansell and you get the picture. Henderson, Scoggin, and Mansell were all in double figures by the half.

For St. Patrick, Harrington, who had the quietest 16 point half in memory, and Clark (10 for the half) allowed the Leprechauns to hang around, but St. Pat could only cut it to 9 at the half. 45-36 Mater Dei.

The second half started with St. Pat applying some full court pressure. Mater Dei ball handlers, including 6’-3" freshman did an excellent job of breaking the press and didn’t give up any crucial turnovers. At 4:45 of the third, Mater Dei had regained a 15 point lead, 55-40.

St. Pat cut it to 8 then watched Mater Dei surge right back to 12, 59-47 at 2:50 of the third.

Many in press row were saying they still believed St. Patrick would win the game, but gave Mater Dei much props for the game they were playing. I, on the other hand was seeing the handwriting on the wall. Mater Dei was still getting very good looks at the hoop against a very porous, and strangely slow moving, defense. And, St. Pat was not executing very well on offense.

Naturally both team tried to make me look bad. Mater Dei hit a lull, and St. Pat took advantage of some key turnovers to cut the lead to 5, 62-57 Mater Dei and the end of 3 quarters.

After a wild series under the St. Pat basket that ended with Harrington picking up a foul, the game got real interesting. Mater Dei was up by ONE point with 7:05 left. They didn’t look worried. And why should they? Mater Dei had nothing to lose in this game, unranked and under-propped. On the other hand, St. Pat, No. 1 in the nation (depending upon the poll you read) had it all out on the line.

Harrington, who finished with 26 points, 17 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals was leading St. Pat in the comeback. Clark (16 points, 7 boards) and Jerome Holman (5’9 JR PG,) who had 19 points, 7 boards, 7 assists, 5 steals, were ably assisting. Holman, in particular, was very strong at this point in the game. A great handle and a great eye for his teammates opened some inside opportunities for Harrington, and some nice finishes for himself. If these big guns hadn’t sputtered so often (St. Pat shot 37% from the field) this would have been a vastly different game. Mater Dei’s team defense had a whole lot to do with the sputtering.

3:43 left, 1 point game, 67-66 Mater Dei.

1:06 left, 3-point game, 75-72 Mater Dei.

:11 secs. left, 5-point game, 79-74 Mater Dei.

:00 left. 5 point MAJOR UPSET, 81-76 MATER DEI BEATS ST. PATRICK.

Steve Henderson finished with 11 points, 4 boards, 2 assists, and a steal. (3-4 from three)

Derrick Mansell, 20 points, 3 boards, 4 assists, 2 steals.

Mike Bayer, 13 points, 9 boards, 4 assists. (6-7 from the field)

Steve Scoggin, 22 points, 6 boards, 9 assists, 2 steals. (8 for 15 shooting, 3 for 5 from 3)

Cedric Bozeman, 9 points, 6 boards, 2 assists, 4 steals.

Christian McGuigan, 6 points, 4 boards, and an assist.

They played their butts off folks. As good a coaching job (Gary McKnight, nuff said) and as good an effort as you’ll see all year. The Monarchs surgically removed the glow from around this (former?) number one team in America. Congratulations and thank you for a great show. Great game, great time.

Special props to all the organizers of this, the third Nike Extravaganza. Special thanks to Steve Kasper and Aaron Sullivan for their hospitality and assistance. See you all there next year.

See ya.

Jason Day