Orange Lutheran stops Mater Dei's streak

James Douglas was 0 for 6. Then he was 1 for 7.

That “1 for 7” might not seem like a huge improvement, until you know what the “1” represents – the first time Orange Lutheran beat Mater Dei in Douglas’ four years of varsity basketball at Lutheran.

Orange Lutheran upset Orange County’s top-ranked team, 59-56, Friday in a Trinity League game at a packed Lutheran gym. It was Mater Dei’s first league loss since Jan. 21, 2005, when the Monarchs lost to Santa Margarita in a Serra League game. Mater Dei took a 50-game league winning streak into Friday.

———————————————————

PHOTOS: OCVarsity Hot Shots from Friday's games

———————————————————

Mater Dei, also No. 12 in ESPN’s national rankings, is 14-2 overall and 1-1 in league. The Monarchs’ other loss was the St. Patrick’s of Elizabeth, NJ, the No. 2 team in the nation, last month. Lutheran is 13-4 overall, 2-0 in league.

Two players scored 49 of the Lancer’s 59 points. Douglas, a 6-foot senior guard who signed with Northern Arizona, scored 25 on 10-for-16 shooting.

Gabe York, a 6-2 junior guard getting recruited by many of the nation’s better-known college programs, scored 24.

The Lancers has to overcome a great effort by Mater Dei junior Xavier Johnson. He scored 27 and had 11 rebounds. Johnson scored 20 in the second half.

Douglas postgame emotions were one part excitement, equal part relief on the postgame court while Lutheran’s huge student-body cheering section whooped it up nearby after descending from the stands.

Beating the Monarchs, at least once, was a big goal for his senior year.

“I was 0 for 6 against them since I got here,” Douglas said. “This feels amazing. I really can’t put it into words.”

Douglas put the ball in the basket on a driving layup with 58 seconds remaining to put Lutheran on top, 57-56. Mater Dei freshman Stanley Johnson missed a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left.

Lutheran’s Scott Baron grabbed the second miss for the last of his nine rebounds, and at the other end Lutheran sophomore Payton Banks missed on a drive.

At the other end, Mater Dei’s Katin Reinhardt got the ball in the corner, cut through the key and tried a finger roll in the lane that was short. The rebound went out of bounds to Mater Dei, under the basket.

After a time out, the Monarchs got the ball to Johnson inside, but his attempt rolled off the rim. He rebounded his miss, and tried a fallaway that was off the mark. York got that rebound, was fouled and, with two seconds to go, made two free throws to make it 59-56.

Mater Dei, with no time outs remaining, hurriedly inbounded to Reinhardt, whose runner from backcourt was a few feet short of the rim.

It was a special victory for Lutheran coach Chris Nordstrom. He was a Mater Dei assistant coach before taking the Lutheran position seven years ago. Friday’s victory was his first against his former team.

“I learned a lot of basketball from that program and from (Coach) Gary McKnight,” Nordstrom said. “It’s awfully nice to finally beat your mentor.”