UCLA 2010 recruit Tyler Lamb's high school team, No. 1 Mater Dei (32-1), will be playing No. 2 Westchester (30-3) in the CIF Southeran California Regional finals on Saturday March 20 at 8 pm at the Galen Center, USC.
Mater Dei had to beat Etiwanda, Buchanan, Rancho Verde and Taft high schools to get to the final game.
Here is the story on the March 9 Mater Dei-Buchanan game (Lamb scored 19) followed by the story on the March 11 Mater Dei-Rancho Verde game (Lamb scored 21).
Another shaky start, but Mater Dei stays alive
The Monarchs trail at halftime before a big second-half surge to beat Buchanan.
March 09, 2010 9:39 PM
By LOU PONSI
OCVARSITY.COM
SANTA ANA - Mater Dei started slow in its CIF State Division I game against Buchanan of Clovis on Tuesday night at Mater Dei High.
The Monarchs finally got going in the third quarter and pulled away for a 90-65 victory in the Southern California regional first-round game.
Mater Dei (30-1) had four players score in double figures, led by Gary Franklin's 29 points. Tyler Lamb added 19, Keala King scored 17 and Max Hooper 13.
Despite the large margin of victory, Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight didn't have much praise for his team.
"We've played poorly defensively for two games in row," said Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight, referring to the Monarchs' 68-65 down-to-the-wire victory over Etiwanda in Saturday's CIF-SS Division 1AA final.
"We are a much better team than this. Buchanan came in here and played with nothing to lose ... I wish we played with half as much enthusiasm than they did."
The Monarchs shot poorly early and trailed at halftime, 42-39. Mater Dei and allowed the Bears (22-8) to hit 57 percent of their shots in the half.
The Monarchs went on a 33-18 run in the third quarter to pull away.
Alex Fertig and Sam Milhous each scored 14 for the Bears.
*******
Mater Dei shows strength as it beats Rancho Verde
The Monarchs win big, 80-48, and move on to face Taft in the regional semifinals.
March 11, 2010 11:55 PM
By MARK GARCIA
OCVARSITY.COM
SANTA ANA - Kaela King scored 23 points and Tyler Lamb added 21 to lead Mater Dei to an 80-48 win over Rancho Verde of Moreno Valley on Thursday in a CIF Southern California Division I quarterfinal game at Mater Dei High.
The win advances the Monarchs (31-1) to the semifinals, where they will face Taft of Woodland Hills on Saturday at home at 7 p.m. Taft advanced by defeating Leuzinger, 66-63.
"I'm pretty happy the way we played tonight," said Monarchs coach Gary McKnight. "Defensively, we stepped up our intensity and focused on getting off to a good start."
McKnight said his club had not started recent games as well as he would like. Mater Dei scored just 15 points in the first quarter Thursday, but exploded for 26 in the second to lead 41-20 at halftime.
"We had some good talks this week," he said. "A lot of people thought this team wouldn't be as explosive as last year's. But I think we're more explosive because we can get cheaper baskets."
"You could tell the whole team was focused before the game," said Lamb, who also added nine rebounds and five assists. "It was important for us to get off to a good start."
The victory for the Monarchs was its second in 13 days against the Mustangs (25-7). Mater Dei won, 94-58, on Feb. 27 in a Southern Section Division IAA semifinal.
And much like the previous game, Mater Dei's superior athleticism and size played a huge factor. The Monarchs outrebounded Rancho Verde, 50-25, with King leading the way with 14 boards.
Mater Dei's starting lineup featured nobody under 6-foot-3. Rancho Verde's lineup featured nobody over 6-foot-2.
Rancho Verde seemed content shooting from the perimeter, but finished just 16-of-56 (29 percent) from the floor, and was just 3 of 27 from beyond the arc.
"Do you see any post players out there?" said Mustangs coach Travis Showalter. "We are what we are. We've got to make some threes to score some points."
Ahead 11-7 late in the first quarter, Mater Dei went on a 14-0 run. Rancho Verde never recovered. The Monarchs' lead fluctuated from 20-30 points the remainder of the night.
Rancho Verde guard Kyle Fuller, a Vanderbilt signee, finished with a team-high 18 points, but 14 came in the second half when the game was already decided.
Gary Franklin, who drew the defensive assignment on Fuller, was solid on the offensive side too, finishing with 16 points and five rebounds.
"I still feel we can get better," added Lamb. "The sky's the limit with this team."
No comments:
Post a Comment