No. 1 Mater Dei stays in command

Mater Dei beat Orange Lutheran by 34 points.

It was not a case of Orange Lutheran being bad. Lutheran looks good enough to play in a CIF championship game in March.

It was just a night on which Mater Dei was close to perfect Friday as the Monarchs beat the Lancers, 101-67, in a Trinity League game at Orange Lutheran.

Mater Dei is No. 1 in the state rankings, No. 1 in the county and No. 1 in CIF-Southern Section Division I-AA. The Monarchs sure played like it.

They jumped to a 9-0 advantage, and just kept growing the lead from there. Mater Dei led by 12 at the end of the first quarter, by 17 at halftime, and by 23 going into the fourth quarter.

The Monarchs' big three all had big nights.

Senior guard Tyler Lamb, who signed with UCLA, scored 24 points on 11-for-15 shooting, and had five assists, four steals and four blocked shots. Senior forward Keala King, an Arizona State signee, scored 24 with 14 rebounds, six of them offensive. And senior guard and Cal signee Gary Franklin scored 23 with five assists, and made four 3-pointers.

"I didn't expect us to play like this," Lamb said. "We had a nice week of practice, and we were all focused because we know it's getting later in the season. So for us to come out and play like this with hardly any turnovers (10), it feels really good."

Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight was equally pleased after watching the team shoot 55 percent from the field, and 42 percent on 3-pointers.

"When we shoot like this, we're very difficult to deal with," McKnight said.

So, the question comes up – is this team better than last year's David and Travis Wear-led group that went to the I-AA championship game?

"Offensively, by far," McKnight said. "Defensively, we're a pretty darn good team."

James Douglas led Lutheran (15-6, 4-2) with 18 points. Gabe York scored 14 for the Lancers, and Dylan Rice scored 14 with 11 rebounds. Lutheran is No. 4 in the county rankings and is No. 2, behind Price of Los Angeles, in the CIF-SS IV-AA rankings.

Mater Dei has scored more than 100 points four times this season. The Monarchs beat St. John Bosco of Bellflower, 101-63, on Wednesday.

Mater Dei beat Lutheran by 36 points at Mater Dei earlier this month.

Also in the Trinity League:

Santa Margarita 62, JSerra 52: Matt Sawdon scored 18 points for the visiting Eagles (11-10, 3-3).

In the Century League:

Tustin 54, No. 9 Canyon 48: Matt Glover scored 29 points with five 3-pointers, 10 rebounds and five assists for the host Tillers (16-6, 4-2). It was the first league loss for Canyon (16-7, 5-1).

In the Freeway League:

Sonora 61, Troy 36: Connor Kjer's 13 points paced the host Raiders (18-5, 5-1).

Sunny Hills 61, Buena Park 42: Jae Byan scored 16 points and McAllan DeCastro added 15 with seven steals for the visiting Lancers (20-3, 5-1), who are tied for first place with Sonora.

In the Garden Grove League:

Garden Grove 64, Rancho Alamitos 53: Five players scored in double figures for the host Argonauts (15-5, 5-1). Jeff Montenegro and Josh Webb led the Argos with 13 points apiece.

In the Orange League:

Magnolia 54, Western 47: Deshawn Henderson scored 16 points and D'Shon Norris added 12 for the league-leading, host Sentinels (12-10, 6-0).

In the Sea View League:

Woodbridge 56, El Toro 51: The visiting Warriors (10-12, 4-2) beat the Chargers for the second time this season as Ryan Garvin scored 16 points with four 3-pointers.

In the South Coast League:

No. 8 Dana Hills 68, No. 7 Capistrano Valley 58: The host Dolphins (18-5, 6-1) beat the Cougars (17-7, 5-2) for the second time this season as Ray Getz scored 31 points.

No. 6 Mission Viejo 51, Aliso Niguel 41: Isaac Neilson's 15 points led the host Diablos (19-4, 6-1).

In the Sunset League:

No. 5 Los Alamitos 51, Edison 49: James Walker III scored 23 points to lead the visiting Griffins (18-4, 3-3).