Mater Dei overwhelms Orange Lutheran to win Trinity League boys basketball title

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SANTA ANA – It was a typical win for the 2018-19 Mater Dei boys basketball team.

The Monarchs were defensively stout. Five players scored in double figures. Mistakes were few.

It added up to a 78-55 win over Orange Lutheran in a Trinity League game Wednesday at Mater Dei. It was the final regular-season game for both teams.

Mater Dei clinched at least a share of the league championship. The Monarchs, No. 1 in the Orange County top 25, finished the regular season 25-3 overall and 4-1 in league. It would be a league co-championship if St. John Bosco (3-1 in league) wins at Servite on Thursday.

For Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight it’s a 31st consecutive league championship and a 35th league title in his 36 seasons coaching the Monarchs.

Mater Dei is on the “watch list” of candidates for the CIF-Southern Section Open Division for the playoffs. The eight teams selected for the Open Division will be announced Friday. CIF-SS brackets for all divisions will be released Sunday. If Mater Dei is not in the Open Division the Monarchs in the playoffs would play in Division 1 in which they are ranked No. 5.

Mater Dei Harrison Hornery talks about the Monarchs’ 78- 55 win over Orange Lutheran. He’s from Australia. Scored 13 points with 4 assists ⁦@ocvarsity⁩ ⁦@MDHSMonarchs⁩ ⁦@MaterDeiHoops⁩ pic.twitter.com/hfgkiCTNKV

— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) January 31, 2019

Orange Lutheran, No. 3 in the Orange County top 25, finished the regular season 20-8 overall and 2-3 in league.

The top three finishers in the six-team Trinity League receive guaranteed entry into the playoffs. Orange Lutheran, as the league’s No. 5 playoff representative, must qualify for the playoffs as an at-large team. The Lancers would play in Division 2AA.

At-large teams would be placed in the 32-team 2AA bracket if there are not enough automatic qualifiers. Through Wednesday’s games it appeared that Orange Lutheran would be a 2AA at-large team. If selected Orange Lutheran, although ranked No. 2 in this week’s Division 2AA poll, would open the playoffs with an away game against another league’s automatic qualifier.

Turnovers told the story in Wednesday’s surprisingly one-sided game. Orange Lutheran committed 26 turnovers to Mater Dei’s five. The Monarchs had zero turnovers in the first half.

All five Monarchs scored in double figures Wednesday: sophomore point guard Devin Askew, 16 points (with five assists and four steals); junior forward guard Aidan Prukop, 13 points; sophomore forward Harrison Hornery, 13 points (and four assists); sophomore Wilhelm Breidenbach, 12 points; and junior guard Ryan Evans, 10 points (and four steals).

Sophomore forward Nick Davidson scored seven points with a team-high eight rebounds.

Orange Lutheran 6-11 junior Makur Maker scored 10 points, half of his per-game average because of the steady defense of Breidenbach (6-9) who got out quickly on Maker outside of the 3-point arc from where Maker is surprisingly effective, and challenged every Maker shot attempt inside.

“I thought Breidenbach did heck of a job on the big guy,” McKnight said. “He attacked and did a good job.”

The Monarchs were collectively on the attack from the start. Maker made a 3-pointer on the first shot of the game for a 3-0 Lancers lead. Then the Orange Lutheran turnovers started coming, accompanied by Mater Dei fast-break baskets.

Soon it was 12-5, Mater Dei.

“We put on the gas right away,” said Hornery, who is 6-9 and from Australia. “We didn’t want to let (the Lancers) come back in this game. We knew if they got it going from the three point line … it was going to be close game and we didn’t want that.”

The Monarchs had a 20-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter. They went on a 16-4 run in the second quarter to take a 42-20 lead into halftime.

It was 61-33 at the end of the third quarter. Mater Dei’s biggest lead was 36 points in the fourth.

“We played with a lot of intensity,” McKnight said.

It’s a young Mater Dei team, with no seniors in the starting five or among the first reserves off of the bench. The Open Division is loaded with state-ranked teams. But even with their youth, the Monarchs if chosen for the Open Division, will do fine if they play with the fire they displayed Wednesday and the balanced scoring continues.

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