Mater Dei Advances to I-A Final

The Santa Ana Mater Dei boys’ basketball team advanced into another Southern Section final Tuesday night by defeating San Bernardino Pacific, 72-64, in a Division I-A game at Huntington Beach Ocean View.

But it was pretty darn ugly.

That was the general consensus in both camps after the teams combined to commit 45 fouls, make only 48 of 117 shots and commit 25 turnovers.

Not the sort of game one would expect at this point in the playoffs.

Nevertheless the Monarchs used a quick start to advance to their eighth final in the last nine seasons. They’ll play Simi Valley Saturday night at the Arrowhead Pond.

Mater Dei made nine of its first 11 shots to take an 18-8 lead six minutes into the game, then went 16 of 44 the rest of the way. The only one clicking down the stretch was senior guard Steve Scoggin, who led all scorers with 21 points.

In other games:

Simi Valley 77, Perris 58--Simi Valley weathered an 18-point third quarter by junior guard J.S. Nash of Rancho Verde and then shut him out in the fourth quarter of the Division I-A semifinal at Perris.

Rancho Verde (20-12), which had made a run to the semifinals after finishing third in the Sunbelt League, cut a 12-point deficit to 51-48 with 34 seconds left in the third quarter.

Brea Olinda 50, Inglewood 46--Brea advanced to the Division II-AA final despite making only one field-goal attempt in the last 10 minutes at Placentia Valencia.

Lakewood Artesia 70, Pasadena Muir 36--Jack Martinez scored 20 points as the top-seeded Pioneers won the II-A semifinal at Pasadena Community College.

Franklin Mattos scored 16 points and Amaury Fernandez added 10 for Artesia.

Huntington Beach Ocean View 71, Lakewood Mayfair 56--Guard Marques Crane scored 21 of his 23 points--including four three pointers--in the second half to lead the Seahawks to the II-A semifinal victory at Bellflower.

Torin Beeler added 19 points for Ocean View, which pulled away after being tied, 44-44, after three quarters.

Beeler and Ryan Westbrook helped hold Mayfair’s Josh Childress to eight points.

Long Beach St. Anthony 65, Pacific Hills 64--Pearson Smith scored 23 of his 38 points in the fourth quarter as St. Anthony overcame a 16-point deficit to win the V-AA semifinal at Brentwood.

Smith stole the ball with five seconds left and passed to a teammate who missed a layup. Smith then tipped in the game-winner with one second left.

Downey Calvary Chapel 46, Campbell Hall 43--Tim Drisdom scored 16 points and had seven assists in the V-AA semifinal at Cerritos Valley Christian as the Grizzlies (25-5) advanced to the championship game for the first time.

Jaime Banuelos of Calvary Chapel had a steal and layup with two seconds left.