Michael Lev and I break down USC’s pro day:
The latest edition of the OCVarsity Top 10 is one of the best ones yet. Highlights include an amazing grab in baseball that was even featured in SportsCenter's top 10 plays.
Also featured is a bang bang play at the plate, a grand slam, a record being broken in boys swimming, and a Mater Dei player is honored with one of the nation's highest prep awards.
Mater Dei has a chance to win a CIF Southern California Regional final in both girls and boys basketball on Saturday.
The boys squad faces Centennial in a rematch of their epic Division 1AA semifinal playoff game. What do the Monarchs have to do to avoid another loss by the talented Huskies squad?
Also, the Lady Monarchs were expecting another showdown with Brea Olinda, but Canyon Springs had other ideas. With injuries to Jordan Adams and Alexas Williamson, can Mater Dei win their second straight SoCal Regional final?
Jonathan Khamis (filling in for the ailing Carlos Arias) joins Steve Fryer at Mater Dei to dissect the Monarchs' playoff opponents, including interviews with Katin Reinhardt, Xavier Johnson, Kiki Alofaituli, Jessica Duarte, and both head coaches.
La Verne Lutheran's Grant Jarrett did everything but take down the backboard, and he nearly did that in the 4th quarter. The Wildcat commit dropped 30 points, nabbed 16 boards, and swatted away six shots in a 74-58 second-round victory over Orange Lutheran.
"There aren't many center in high school basketball, but he's one of them," Orange Lutheran coach Chris Nordstrom said. "He's as good of a center we've played since the Wear twins, I suppose. He is very very good."
Senior James Douglas played his final game for Orange Lutheran (20 points, seven rebounds), as the Northern Arizona signee went out with a bang. He delivered a number of rim-rattling dunks.
"It's been a great four years here," James Douglas said. "We've done everything we can, (including) a CIF championship. We wanted to win state, but we gave it our all."
Orange Lutheran had a number of firsts this year, that included their first CIF championship and their first victory over Mater Dei.
La Verne Lutheran will visit Harvard-Westlake in the Regionals Division 3 semifinals on Saturday.
Xavier Johnson had two highlight dunks, but fouled out of the game and was visibly frustrated on the bench, as he knocked over two chairs. A Mater Dei assistant coach told Johnson to pick up the chairs, and Johnson quickly obliged.
A total of 45 personal fouls were called, which made the game seem like it would last into the next round. Both coaches agreed that the game never really had a flow.
"We couldn't get into a rhythm offensively," said Aliso Niguel coach Keith Barnett. "Officials are officials but there was a lot of overcalling."
"We've had moments this year where we come out and we're brilliant, but we've had moments where we're just flat," said Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight. "But with the stoppage of play, there was no real flow to the game."
The Monarchs will play host to Loyola of Los Angeles in the second round on Thursday.
Highlights include an unbelievable finish to win a championship, game-winning goals in girls and boys soccer, a ridiculous backwards reverse layup, and clutch championship plays.
Loyola outrebounded Capistrano Valley 46-29 and led by as many as 22 points, capturing the CIF Division I-A championship 74-58.
Cougars' head coach Brian Mulligan knew his team was in dire straights after giving up 39 points in the first half alone.
"This game needed to be in the 60's or 50's for us to have a chance," Mulligan said. "They outrebounded us and they out-transitioned us...those were two things we talked about that absolutely could not happen to us."
Capo had a hard time covering Julian Harrell's relentless hustle, and Joe Stein's sharp-shooting (9/17 FG). However, the Cougars actually outscored 36-35 in the second half, but it was too little too late according to Mulligan.
"We just didn't execute the game plan really well, but we tried really hard."
The Diablos led the Cougars for most of the Div. II-AA championship game until the fourth quarter. Ventura rallied and eventually won in overtime 56-55.
It felt like a road game for Mission Viejo since Capistrano Valley's student section was out in full force jeering on their rivals from the South Coast league.
Chants of "We hate Mission," along with the standard "defense" chants of Ventura's student section might have rattled some teams, but not the Diablos, according to their head coach Troy Roelen.
"We don't get rattled by that stuff," Roelen said. "You saw us at the free throw line. We were calm, but a play here or there and we would've been right in it."
After the game, a Ventura school official instructed the Cougars to acknowledge the rabid Capo fans. The reaction was one of the loudest of the night.
What was supposed to be a neutral site, turned out to be a jungle full of black and yellow Cougars.
Alexyz Vaioltetama believes that this won't be the last time these two teams will square off. Her teammate Jordan Adams agreed.
"We're definitely going to see them down the line," Adams said. "We have to get there too. We have to try and take every opponent seriously and get to that point where we see Brea."
But should that game-winner really have been a game-winner?
According to multiple scorebooks, Edison was mistakenly awarded a point in the 1st quarter. Troy had a lead of 8-7, but the scoreboard read as a 8-8 tie.
"I told them (official scorekeepers) if this comes down to one point, it will be ridiculous," Troy coach Roger Anderson said. "And it came down to one point."
Edison's head coach Dan Wiley said he was never made aware of a possible scoring flub.
"I didn't know anything about it," Wiley said. "I was going by the score on the scoreboard."
Steve Fryer and Carlos Arias breakdown the playoffs (click here for girls hoops video) and preview the upcoming championship games from the Anaheim Arena:
The dream matchup that fans have been waiting for is finally here. For the third consecutive year, Mater Dei will face Brea Olinda for the Division 1AA championship.
Carlos Arias and Steve Fryer are at the Anaheim Arena to analyze the matchup and preview other championship games:
