Nike Extravaganza Live: Mater Dei Rolls

The following was a live blog from Saturday's Nike Extravaganza XIV, one of the nation's top boys basketball one-day bonanza's. The blog is chronological starting at bottom with night game previews, following by morning session highlights and then quarterly updates/observations and game wrap-ups/stats of each of the four night games, Westchester/Rainier Beach, Fairfax/Whitney Young, De La Salle/Dominguez and Mater Dei/St. Benedict's. Look for full game stories, photos and videos on those four games in the next two days. 

By Mitch Stephens

MaxPreps.com

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Hello from the Meruelo Athletic Center on the campus of Mater Dei High School in sunny but still drying out Southern California. 

We’re in the middle of the all-day Nike Extravaganza XIV bonanza, one of the best one-day boys basketball get-togethers in the country.

Final scores from Saturday

Mater Dei 73, St. Benedict's 61

De La Salle 64, Dominguez 38

Fairfax 64, Young 57

Westchest 75, Rainier Beach 65

Colony 68, Sonora 60

Los Alamitos 53, Servite 47

Santa Margarita 50, Troy 45

King 78, Ocean View 72

Orange Lutheran 84, Campbell Hall 62

11:10 p.m. - Mater Dei-St. Benedict's Wrap

As expected, the Gray Bees (22-2) didn't fold down the stretch. They scored 26 in the final quarter but after scoring 35 through three, not nearly enough. Sophomore Tavon Sledge is a one of the most explosive players you'll ever see at this level and led St. Benedict's with 17 points, Thompson had 14 but most of those were after the game was long decided. Myck Kabongo added 12 points. As usual remarkably balanced scoring for the Monarchs (23-0) as David Wear had 18, Tyler Lamb 17, Travis Wear 13 and Connor Hughes, the new starter in place of injured Andy Brown, had 12. The Monarchs were dominant on the boards with a 34-17 edge. Hard to imagine a team only grabbing 17 rebounds in 32 minutes. Wonder if the stat keepers were tired after a 15-hour day.

The obvious question for the Gray Bees was who was better: St. Patrick, a team it lost to by 26 on Wednesday, or Mater Dei? Sledge didn't hesitate. "Mater Dei is the best team I've ever played against. They're so big and all of them can play. They're not just big." That length definitely bothered Thompson: "That's the biggest team I've ever played against and probably the best," he said. "We'll be back. We'll learn from this." As far as what coach Dan Hurley had to say? He didn't make it to the press conference that Mater Dei sets up after each game. An assistant coach and Sledge and Thompson were sent over. It's been a rough four days for the Gray Bees and with a long flight home. Playing at midnight (eastern time) certainly didn't help St. Benedict's, which we heard practiced at that hour on Friday. The Gray Bees did not play poorly - though this is the first I've seen them. They shot 49 percent from the floor, they continued to struggle at the line (12 of 21 after making 19 of 39 on Wednesday) and committed 16 turnovers, which isn't good but not deplorable. Simply with such skilled kids at 6-10 (Travis Wear), 6-10 (David Wear) and 6-6 (Hughes) on the front line, plus guards at 6-3 (Gary Franklin) and 6-4 (Lamb) - and four of the five are Division I kids - it's difficult to match up.  

10:42 p.m.

Leinart ended up leaving with 1:12 left. The Gray Bees kept battling all the way to the end, but Mater Dei had just too much size and too many true players. Poised. Skilled. Athletic. It is hard to imagine a team in the country any better. Final score: Mater Dei 73, St. Benedict's 61.  

10:30 p.m.

Midway through the fourth the gym is 60 percent filled. Travis Wear just fouled out but it's not going to matter. Now it's going to be a free throw war. Unless the Monarchs collapse from the line, this one is done. Tristan Thompson is a beast down low for the Sea Beas. No wonder Texas already has him wrapped up as a junior. With that said, Mater Dei's Connor Hughes, a 6-6 senior just inserted into starting lineup for injured Andy Brown, has outscored Thompson 12-10. With 3:37 left, Mater Dei 63, St. Benedict's 48.

10:15 p.m.

In the true spirit of Southern California, the place is clearing out with eight minutes remaining. Not Matt Leinart though. The Mater Dei graduate is enjoying every minute of this one while sitting in the front row. Wonder how much those seats go for? Got to wonder what St. Benedict's coach Dan Hurley is going to say the press after this one. He lit into his team pretty hard after Wednesday's blowout loss to St. Patrick (see below). I'd like to see the Gray Bees make it respectable before we're done. That's a long flight home. End of third quarter: Mater Dei 54, St. Benedict's 35.

10:05 p.m.

The good news for The Gray Bees is they're getting to the basket and scoring. The bad news, they're just exchanging buckets. USC-bound Gary Franklin, who just threw the ball out of bounds on a 3-on-1 fastbreak, makes immediate imends, stealing the ball in the back court and scoring an uncontested fastbreak layup. With 2:40 left in the third quarter: Mater Dei 50, St. Benedict's 31.

9:45 p.m.

First-half stats: Mater Dei shoots 52 percent while getting 13 points from Lamb and a combined 13 from the Wear twins. Sledge had seven points for St. Benedict's, which made just 37 percent of its shots but made 40 percent on 3-pointers (4 of 10). Halftime score: Mater Dei 36, St. Benedict's 22.

9:32 p.m.
It might not be St. Benedict's night...or week for that matter. Mater Dei's Tyler Lamb just clanked a 3-pointer that bounced on either side of the rim and eventually rolled in. With 2:30 left in the first half: Mater Dei 31, St. Benedict's 16.

9:19 p.m. - Mater Dei-St. Benedict's stars

Mater Dei's size is overwhelming St. Benedict's early as North Carolina-bound twins are having their way down low. They scored on consecutive layups after nice feeds from Tyler Lamb leading to 10-point first quarter lead. Tavon Sledge, a 5-9 sophomore, is putting on a slicing show for St. Benedict's with three consecutive driving hoops. That's the lone bright spot thus far for the Gray Bees. End of first quarter: Mater Dei 18, St. Benedict's 8.

8:55 p.m. - De La Salle-Dominguez Wrap

The Spartans made 54 percent of its shots, including 60 percent on 3-pointers (9 of 15). A textbook win with total balance: John McArthur 12 points, Jeff Powers 11, Beau Levesque 10 and Brandon Smith 10 points and 11 assists. Keala King leads Dominguez with 13 points and Marcus Moody 10. The Dons shot just 35 percent and committed 20 turnovers. Smith and Powers say last year's embarrassing 20-point loss here to Westchester played huge part in decisive victory. "This was redemption," Smith said.

8:40 p.m.

Dominguez and De La Salle pull starters with 2:20 remaining. Who would have thought that. De La Salle trailed 2-0 and never after that. Even their reserves get in the act as Max Pitts drills a 3-pointer and nate Appel scores a revese layup. Final score: De La Salle 64, Dominguez 38.

8:28 p.m.

Dominguez scored six quick points on a 3-pointer by Marqus Moody, a free throw and fastbreak hoop by King. But thoughts of a comeback were immediately thwarted on yet another backdoor cut and basket by Jordan Estrada. With 3:43 left: De La Salle 52, Dominguez 35.

8:19 p.m.

As good as De La Salle was in the first half, they were even better in the third quarter. The Spartans drilled four more three-pointers and down low, John McArthur scored a pair of inside hoops including a layup after another unselfish pass, this one from Jordan Estrada. The Spartans look like their serious about a state Division I title run. At least for now. End of three quarters: De La Salle 48, Dominguez 29.

7:48 p.m.

De La Salle finishes half with a flurry. Joe Stein drills a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:05 left, Beau Levesque slams home deuce after another backdoor cut and pretty left-hand bounce pass from Smith and following a steal, Stein swishes another 3-pointer at the buzzer. After getting drilled last year by Westchester, the Spartans are putting on a clinic. Halftime: De La Salle 29, Dominguez 15. Keala King leads Dominguez with six points. De La Salle is led by Jeff Powers (eight points). Spartans made 12 of 25 from floor to 7 of 20 for Dominguez, which has 11 turnovers (and De La Salle isn't even pressing). Dominguez, which creates much of its offense with the press, has forced just five turnovers. Smith already has seven assists.

7:32 p.m. - De La Salle-Dominguez starts

De La Salle point guard Brandon Smith fires a couple of pretty backdoor passes for hoops drawing as many appreciative groans as the biggest dunks of the day. Jeff Powers drills a 3-pointer and a layup. End of first quarter: De La Salle 17, Dominguez 11.

7:15 p.m. Fairfax-Young Wrap

Final recap on Fairfax-Young. Sidney finished with 19 points and nine rebounds, Hill goes for 12 points and 17 rebounds and Lance Bailey and Jordan Weathers add 12 and 10 respectively. Marcus Jordan leads Young with 18 points, Ahmad Stars 11 and Anthony Johnson 10. Key stat: Fairfax makes 23 of 56 from field (50 percent), Young is 22 of 73 (30.1 percent).

Sidney, fighting a big flu bug (everything is big for Sidney) and Hill agree afterward: defense is the key for Fairfax and its ticket to a state title game.

Crowd is packing this beautiful high school facility. ESPNU cameras are rolling. Electricity starting to really generate.

6:52 p.m.

Fairfax runs out the clock and wins going away. Final score: Fairfax 64, Young 57.

6:49 p.m.

Anthony Johnson is taking over for Young. He makes second spectacular reverse layup and jumper to close Young to within 54-48. Sidney has rough three-minute span, misses three straight free throws, has two turnovers and silly foul. Jordan Weathers drills 3 for Fairfax, but Jordan comes right back with three. 2:21 left in the game: Fairfax 57, Young 51. 

6:36 p.m.

Young closes to 33-29 on a jumper by Ahmad Starks, but Fairfax takes complete control with a 16-6 run to close the quarter. Donte McFrazier, a 6-foot junior, hit a 3-pointer and two free throws to end the run. End of three quarters: Fairfax 49, Young 35.

6:15 p.m.

Sure sign this is a Grade A event. The Laker girls are performing at halftime. First time the folks in stands have stood all night. Three dances? That's it? Crowd wants more. PA promises they'll be back. Loudest cheer of the night.

6:12 p.m.

Famous factory. Marcus Jordan - yes MJ's son - drills a 3-pointer and then makes beautiful spin move and right-hand jumper to give Young the lead 22-21. Sidney shows why he'll definitely be playing on the same court Marcus' dad did, finishes off the half with a fadeaway 18-footer then beats everyone down court and slams one down for fastbreak hoop. He and Jordan have game-highs of 12 points. Best player on the court may be Fairfax's Solomon Hill with nine points, 10 rebounds and one spectacular dunk. Halftime: Fairfax 28, Young 22.  

5:55 p.m. - Fairfax-Whitney Young starts

Renardo Sidney establishes himself early, scoring Fairfax's seven of first nine on three nice post moves. Late in first quarter: Fairfax 9, Young 8.

5:45 p.m. - Westchester-Rainier Beach wrap

Done with interviews on Westchester-Rainier Beach. If Westchester thought it might have been a little hung over from a tough defeat last night, it was nothing compared to Rainier Beach. The Vikings lost in double-overtime to rival Bainbridge 55-52, then had to take a ferry to get home. By that time it was midnight, then they had to catch a 6 a.m. flight.

Said 6-7 Stern wh finished with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds: "It (the travel and late game) might have had something to do with (the loss). I felt great early on, but later on our legs were probably pretty much gone." Jamon Echols, a 5-10 junior, led the Vikings with 22 points and Lonnie Person had 12.

Final stats from game: Dominique O'Connor wound up leading the team with 21 points, followed by Mayes with 19, and Polee and Reggie Murphy with 13 each. Westchester made 27 of 54 from the floor and was 16 of 22 on free throws. "Last night was not Westchester basketball," said O'Connor, who is considering all the Pac-10 schools. "Tonight we had to show everyone what we really played like."

5:30 p.m.

D'vonne Pickett just drilled a 3-pointer and fouled out for Vikings. Rainier Beach battles to the end but just too much depth and talent from the Comets. Final: Westchester 75, Rainier Beach 65.

5:20 p.m.

I've been told Rainier Beach coach Mike Bethea keeps kids in line and it's paying off. Even under-manned, the Vikings keep battling. They just closed to within 10, 61-51, but Polee makes a spectacular reverse all-oop layup off a fastbreak feed from Dominique O'Connor, who just made another steal and scored his fourth breakaway layup. There's 40 seconds left: Westchester 73, Rainier Beach 59.

5:05 p.m.

What we've been waiting for. Mays throws ally-oop up to Polee, who sends one down. Polee, a 6-6 forward, has shown better passing skills than I recall from last year. Early in the fourth quarter: Westchester 48, Rainier Beach 33.

4:40 p.m.

Mayes is on fire. He hit two more 3s and has 14 points and the Comets are in complete control. Rainier Beach, particularly Corey Stern (nine rebounds), is extremely active on the boards. But they can't put the ball in the hoop, making just 8 of 33 shots. Halftime score: Westchester 34, Rainier Beach 22.

4:20 p.m.

We've heard Westchester can bomb from outside. Jordin Mayes just drilled two straight 3s to end the first quarter. After a slow start - residue from last night's loss to rival Fairfax, Westchester took it's first lead of the quarter. Westchester 15, Rainier Beach 13.

4:05 p.m. - Westchester-Rainier Beach starts

Without Aaron Dotson, Rainier Beach doesn't figure to have much of a chance. The LSU-bound standout is out for the season with a knee injury.   

MORNING SESSIONS SCORES/HIGHLIGHTS

Colony 68, Sonora 60: Balance won over the one-man gang of Sonora's Christopher Bearden, who had game highs of 28 points and 15 rebounds. Evan Brooks had 17, Dennis Craig 15 and Julian Caldwell and Gene Saulsberry added 14 apiece for Colony.

Los Alamitos 53, Servite 47: James Walker had 22 points and 14 rebounds - 10 on the offensive end - as Los Alamitos went on a 33-21 run in the second half to pull out the hard-earned victory. John Russo had 18 points and Joe Dzida 12 (and 15 rebounds) for Servite. Los Alamitos committed just six turnovers.

Santa Margarita 50, Troy 45: Jessee Hazely had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Pat Moran contributed 10 points leading Santa Margarita to victory. Peter Abraham had 18 points and Josh Jones 10 for Troy, which committed 20 turnovers and shot just 33 percent from the floor.

King 78, Ocean View 72: In a terrific up-tempo affair, Kawhi Leonard scored a tournament-high 38 points and Tony Snell added 12 leading the Wolves to the exciting victory. Ocean View got big games from Avery Johnson (19 points), Anthony Brown (16), Ryan Okwudibonye (12), Billy Keller (11) and Mason Jones (11). King won the battle of the boards 37-23 with Leonard, a 6-7 senior, pulling down a game-high 10 rebounds. 

Orange Lutheran 84, Campbell Hall 62: James Douglas had 23 points and Cody Nedeau and Gabe York combined for 27 as Orange Lutheran won going away. A 24-13 run in the third quarter was key for the Lancers. James Johnson had 26 points and Bryce Brady 13 for the two-time defending state Division IV champions.

EVENING SESSION SCHEDULE

4 p.m. (PDT) — No. 4 Westchester (Los Angeles) 22-2 vs. No. 251 Rainer Beach (Seattle, Wash.) 11-4

5:30 p.m. — No. 27 Fairfax (Los Angeles) 19-3 vs. No. 129 Whitney Young (Chicago) 17-6

7 p.m. — No. 59 Dominguez (Compton) 19-4 vs. No. 76 De La Salle (Concord) 20-1

9 p.m. — No. 1 Mater Dei (Santa Ana) 23-0 vs. No. 9 St. Benedict’s Prep (Newark, N.J.) 22-1

WESTCHESTER-RAINIER BEACH PREVIEW

A little like St. Benedict’s, Westchester comes in with a little chip on its shoulder. Its chip however, is a little fresher.

Only about 16 hours from its tipoff with the Seattle power, Westchester dropped a 49-42 game to Los Angeles City rival Fairfax despite 16 points from Dominique O’Connor. The guard-oriented Comets made nine 3-pointers in an earlier 78-73 win over Fairfax last month, but had an off night and made two on Friday. As good as the team’s guards are, 6-6 junior Dwayne Polee is worth the price of admission. He committed to USC as a freshman and has major hops.

Rainier Beach has somewhat under-achieved but behind the “urging” of coach Michael Bethea always play hard. The key for the Vikings is if LSU-bound shooting guard Aaron Dotson (6-4) can go. He’s been bothered all season by a knee injury and it might just be wise for him to sit out the rest of the season.

FAIRFAX-WHITNEY YOUNG PREVIEW

Fairfax hopes to avoid a letdown after Friday’s big win over Westchester. Fairfax’s Renardo Sidney, considered a lottery NBA pick in the next 2-3 years, had 26 points, 22 rebounds and five blocks.

He and the Lions would love to make it two straight after edging St. Patrick 62-61 in a Nike Extravaganza game here last year. Sidney, a 6-10 post who sometimes flashes guard skills, is averaging 23.3 points, 9.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks a game. When motivated, the uncommitted senior obviously he can put up even bigger numbers as he showed Friday.

Whitney Young has played one of the toughest schedules in the country and have losses to top 10 teams Mater Dei (86-61), Oak Hill Academy (67-57) and St. Benedict’s (69-55).

DE LA SALLE-DOMINGUEZ PREVIEW

Besides alliteration, this one is a fantastic matchup of teams from Northern and Southern California.

De La Salle, under head coach Frank Allocco, has won 16 straight due largely to a defense the new president might be interested in. The Spartans give up just 32.6 points per game and during the win streak, just 29.8. They haven’t given up 30 points nine times, including the last three games.  

Remember, folks, there’s a shot clock on California.

The team’s backbone is senior Cal-bound guard Brandon Smith, but Jeff Powers (Denver) is the team’s best offensive threat, a 6-8 forward with big time 3-point range. The Spartans would like to erase last year’s humbling 76-56 loss to Westchester here at the Extravaganza.

Dominguez has been without Texas-bound Jordan Hamilton all season – ruled ineligible as a fifth-year senior – and head coach Russell Otis (paid leave). But they have barely skipped a beat under fine coach Duane Cooper and such star guard power as Myron Green (6-4), Keala King (6-4) and Dominick Lacoste (6-1).

The Dons are extremely deep and Cooper will go often into his bench. Look for them to press the Spartans hard.