Mater Dei captain Luke Barnett drives to the hoop Saturday against Coronado. (Photos courtesy John Luciano, For OC Sports Zone).
Mater Dei’s boys basketball team made a late run Saturday night but was unable to complete a comeback, losing to Coronado, Nev. 80-71 in the Nike Extravaganza at the Meruelo Athletic Center at Mater Dei.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Coach Gary McKnight’s Mater Dei team (16-10) opened the two-day event defeating St. Mary’s 76-73 Friday night in overtime.
Luke Barnett scored 28 points, Zain Majeed had 22 points and Richie Ramirez 17 points to lead Mater Dei Saturday night. Barnett made 6 of 15 3-pointers.
Trey Price had seven rebounds, Majeed six rebounds and Barnett five rebounds.
Amari Oba led Coronado (11-7) with 32 points and four 3-pointers. Munir Greig and DeVaughn Durrough added 14 points each and Jonny Collins 12 points.
Coronado made 58 percent of its field goal attempts, Mater Dei 41 percent. Mater Dei outrebounded Coronado 30-29.
Coronado had a 35-29 halftime lead but Mater Dei made a fourth quarter run, outscoring Coronado 23-21 in the final stanza to make it close.
A basket by Zain cut the lead to four points early in the fourth quarter. Collins completed a play with a dunk to give Coronado a 67-59 lead with 4:17 remaining.
The Monarchs made one final run, cutting the lead to 69-65 on a 3-pointer by Barnett with 3:15 left. But the Cougars kept answering the Monarchs challenge, moving ahead 75-67 on a basket by Greig with 1:25 left.
Mater Dei returns to Trinity League play Wednesday, Jan. 28 hosting Santa Margarita. Mater Dei (2-1) is in third place in the league, which will have a season-ending post season league tournament.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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