SACRAMENTO – His number is 41.
That would be 4 state championships. And maybe 1 national championship.
Stanley Johnson, No. 41 on the Mater Dei roster, and the Monarchs finished No. 1 again. The Monarchs beat Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland, 71-61, Saturday to win the CIF State Open Division championship.
Mater Dei went into the game as the No. 1 team in the California rankings, and No. 1 in most national rankings. Saturday’s win, capping a 35-0 season, probably will clinch the national championship awarded by those who select national champions.
It is Mater Dei’s fourth consecutive state boys basketball championship, and the 11th in school history. No other California school has won 11 state basketball championships, and only one other, Price of Los Angeles, has won four in a row.
It is only the second time Mater Dei has finished undefeated, having done so in 1985 when it went 29-0. The Monarchs have won 35 games twice before, most recently in the state championship season of 2007-08.
Johnson went out in typical big-game style. A 6-foot-7 senior who has signed with Arizona, Johnson scored 25 points. After a slow start, he scored 11 points in the second quarter, seven in the third, including a shot clock-beating 3-pointer, and five in the fourth quarter.
He had so many immense games in Mater Dei’s road to the CIF-Southern Section and state Open Division championships, with several games of more than 25 points and so many clutch shots.
And to go 4 for 4 — four state championships in his four years of high school basketball, something no player in California history had accomplished — was a goal he sought and a goal he captured.
“This is something that’s never been done before,” Johnson said.
It was Coach Gary McKnight’s 32nd season coaching Mater Dei. No. 32 might be No. 1.
“This has been one of the most satisfying years in my life, ever,” McKnight said.
If Mater Dei had lost, it would have been difficult for McKnight to accept.
“You go 34-0, then finish 34-1?” he said. “Having the chance to go undefeated? And we’ve been close. In ’95 we were close, and in several other years. Wow.”
MJ Cage, a sophomore, scored 16 points with eight rebounds. Cage teamed with freshman Matt Weyand to hold O’Dowd 6-10 junior Ivan Rabb to 10 points. Rabb had scored 26 points in the Northern California Regionals championship game last week. Eight of Rabb’s points came with the game decided in the fourth quarter.
Weyand also made a 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Monarchs a 14-point lead.
Senior Isaiah Juarez scored 11 for the Monarchs. Paris Austin scored a game-high 23 for O’Dowd, which finished 28-5 and was the No. 2 team in the state rankings compiled by calhisports.com.
Mater Dei took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter, extended it to 14 and was never seriously threatened.
The Monarchs had a 28-21 lead at halftime.
Johnson got off to a slow start, which has happened to him in a couple of CIF sectional and state tournament games. He made only one of four shots in the first quarter.
Johnson came out with high energy in the second quarter. He started the period with a steal, dribbled the length of the court and finished with a one-handed, reverse jam. Johnson scored nine more points in the quarter to give him 11 for the period and 13 for the half.
The Dragons took a 13-12 lead into the second quarter.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com