Prep Basketball Playoffs / THIRD ROUND : DIVISION I-A : Mater Dei’s Road to Title Game Runs Through Claremont

Mater Dei’s inexorable march to the Southern Section Division I-A championship game and beyond continued Friday night.

Once again, Mater Dei took Monarch-sized steps in blowing away gritty but overmatched Claremont, 79-50, in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 2,800 at Chapman’s Hutton Center.

Top-seeded Mater Dei (29-1 and 13th-ranked nationally by USA Today) advanced to the semifinals for the 10th time in the past 11 seasons. The Monarchs will play Pasadena, a 70-61 winner over Paramount, on Tuesday.

Unseeded Claremont finished 21-7.

Compared to the earlier rounds, this one was a tense nail-biter for Mater Dei. Claremont was hanging around for the longest time, trailing by only seven at halftime and by 10 after three quarters.

By then, however, Claremont was gassed, and Mater Dei’s superior depth carried it to a 26-7 fourth-quarter run, turning the game into just another rout.

“This is the type of game we needed,” Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said. “We needed to be tested.”

Still . . .

“I kind of like those 20-point leads at halftime,” he said.

If Mater Dei’s inability to put away Claremont early bothered McKnight, it didn’t show. All that troubled him was an overheated gym. Too many people squeezed into such cramped quarters sent the temperatures soaring.

“About three more games in here, and I’d be Tiny Tim,” said McKnight, who was sweating bullets by game’s end.

It certainly didn’t hurt Mater Dei’s cause that McKnight was able to go to his bench early and often. Even on calm, cool nights, McKnight plays as many as 10 players in his regular rotation.

Friday, significant contributions came from all the Monarchs.

After getting off to a sluggish start, Miles Simon scored 18 of his game-high 24 points in the second half. Terence Wilborn added 17 points. Twelve Monarchs played and all scored.

“We’ve been getting good bench,” McKnight said. “Hopefully, our bench will help carry us through the playoffs.”

Claremont’s Grant Rice had 17 points but went scoreless in the all-important fourth quarter. Keven Furr, who added 10 points, was the only other Claremont player to score in double figures.

“They did a real good job shooting the ball for being on the road,” McKnight said. “Miles was a little frustrated to start the game. Plus, he was guarding (Rice).”

McKnight changed defensive assignments, and that seemed to lift Simon’s spirits.

Mater Dei led, 30-23, at halftime but couldn’t ditch the Wolfpack in the third quarter.

Claremont cut a 15-point Monarchs lead to 10 by the end of the quarter, and seemed to have gained momentum.

But Wilborn made a free throw, a layup and a short jump shot and Simon added a short bank shot to push a 53-43 lead to 60-43 with 5:26 left in the game.

Claremont stayed stuck on 43 points until Furr’s three-point basket midway through the fourth quarter. By then, the game was firmly in Mater Dei’s grasp.