Boys’ Basketball CIF Final: Reaction

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Katelyn Osuna, Staff Writer

March 4, 2017 was a big day in sports for the Mater Dei Monarchs. Following the Women’s Soccer Team’s CIF Championship loss was the Varsity Boys Basketball CIF Southern Section Championship. Mater Dei faced Bishop Montgomery, a team from Torrance, California with a 29-2 record and number 1 in the Del Rey League. As the game drew near, high expectations were set for Mater Dei, the number 2 team in the Trinity League who was going into the game with a record of 34-1.

Just the weekend before, the number 13 Mater Dei Monarchs beat the odds and were victorious against the number 10 Chino Hills Huskies in the CIF semifinals, winning 83-80 in an exciting matchup that went into overtime. This win, plus the highly talked about Bol Bol, led many to believe that we would win the game.

While both teams were stellar and knew the high stakes going into the game, as ASB President, Graham McGee, said, “They have a team, we have a Bol Bol.” A lot of pressure was placed on the famous number 1 which caused a wave of worry to strike the crowd when he was not named on the starting lineup.

As the game began, the nerves of the team were evident. Although Mater Dei’s Michael Wang scored the first basket of the night, and the scored was tied 12-12 at the end of the first quarter, Bishop Montgomery seemed to be making all of the three pointers that Mater Dei could not. Despite this, the first half ended with a score of 31-29 with the Monarchs in the lead. At this point in the game, students were still confident in their team’s ability to take the title.

“I think Bol Bol will take over and Spencer Friedman will definitely give him some good opportunities to score,” said freshman Jeremy Narvaez. 

The Monarchs began to pick it up a bit by the end of the third quarter, but the fourth quarter was a let down for Mater Dei as for the first time all game, they were losing. The Knights began to score more and in the last 1:14 of the game. Bol Bol, who did not seem to be on his game that night, was finally taken out. The game ended with a devastating loss for Mater Dei as Bishop Montgomery won the championship 70-55.

Students were shocked by this outcome, but were still hopeful as the team advanced to the State Regionals. Ethan Lacher, a basketball player on the Junior Varsity team at Mater Dei, gave his insight on Mater Dei’s performance saying, “We fell apart at the end. The crowd got into it, but we weren’t able to score. We needed to close down on their shooters and we missed shots when they counted. They had all the momentum and took advantage of it. We’ll beat them in state. We’ll get our revenge.”

As Lacher said, the student section was packed. Faces were painted red, Mater Dei was sprawled across everyone’s shirts, and nearly every student was sporting red, the proud color of the monarch. The colors red and white were very popular along with jeans and at this game specifically, many guys were wearing pink pre-wrap headbands.

While the Mater Dei student section was simply devoted to their school colors, the Bishop Montgomery student section had a different approach. According to some students on the opposing team, at each game of theirs, the student section dressed according to a different theme. As we were at war with them that night, fighting for the CIF title, they wore camouflage to cheer on their team.

Their boisterous cheering was great and Mater Dei combated them with chants, such as the classic basketball chants, “Defense!” and “Air Ball!” As well as out personalized “Let’s Go Monarchs!” and “Strong Like Bol!” Even the parents got involved with the student section as “Mater Dei” was yelled across the arena. 

Although Mater Dei was unable to come out with a win, the experience of advancing that far into CIF, continuing on to compete at the State level, and for the students, watching and cheering throughout the game itself was definitely something for the record books.