SANTA ANA – Knowing you get one crack at making a memorable first impression, Mater Dei forward Harrison Butler made the most of his opportunity in Friday night’s third quarter.
Coming off a screen in the lane, the junior received a pass going toward the basket and wound up chest-to-chest with JSerra’s 6-foot-10 center, Joel Mensah, who is a transfer from the East Coast.
Butler elevated and threw down a vicious one-handed dunk over the athletic Mensah, sending the crowd into a frenzy and simultaneously reminding the Lions that the road to the Trinity League title still goes through Mater Dei.
Four scorers finished in double figures, including Butler, who tallied 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, for the top-ranked Monarchs in a 67-46 victory over No. 8 JSerra in a Trinity League game at Mater Dei High.
Senior Justice Sueing led all scorers with 17 points. Junior forward Michael Wang buried 5 of 6 shots from beyond the arc to finish with 15. And despite a cold start from the field in the first half, point guard Spencer Freedman scored 11 points.
“Reminded me of myself with a Nerf ball at home,” Monarchs coach Gary McKnight joked, referring to Butler’s dunk in the third quarter. “Thought we played pretty solid defensively tonight. Offensively, there were times we were real good. At times, we could’ve been better.
“But they’re a very worthy opponent. A couple of the guys that became eligible at the start of the semester really helped them.”
Just two days after knocking off No. 2 Santa Margarita in overtime, the Lions (11-5, 2-1) appeared ready to go bucket-for-bucket with the Monarchs (19-1, 3-0). The Lions led, 19-18, after J.T. Robinson’s fadeaway jumper with 5:23 to play in the first half, but they went scoreless the rest of the second quarter.
First-year coach Zach Brogdon tried to get his team to attack the basket, but JSerra settled for jumpers, and went 2 of 15 from beyond the arc in the first half.
After scoring 40 points against Santa Margarita on Wednesday, Lions senior Sebastian Much was held to 16 points on 5-of-13 shooting.
Conversely, Mater Dei attacked the hoop and ended the half on a 15-0 run. Butler scored eight points in the paint in the second quarter, moving well without the ball in his hands, constantly cutting through the middle of the Lions zone and finishing at the rim.
Mater Dei led, 33-19, at halftime and maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@scng.com
