INGLEWOOD — The St. John Bosco basketball team waited until the last minute to close out rival Mater Dei.
The Braves used an 8-0 run to pull out a 66-57 win over rival Mater Dei at Saturday’s Trinity-Mission League Showcase at Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
The victory kept Bosco (23-4, 7-2) in first place in the Trinity League with one game remaining in the regular season. The Braves will play for the Trinity League title at JSerra on Tuesday.
“It took everything,” St. John Bosco senior guard Chris Komin said. “Recognizing matchups, recognizing what we worked on in practices and recognizing that we just had to get the job done to win a league title.”
Junior forward Christian Collins’ offensive rebound and putback dunk gave the Braves a 60-57 lead with 1:04 to go. On the next possession, Komin stole the ball and junior guard Brandon McCoy Jr. was fouled. McCoy made both free throws to go up 62-57. Junior forward Max Ellis’ layup and senior guard Elzie Harrington’s emphatic fast break dunk carried the Braves to the win.
“We spent a lot of time this week working on finishing quarters,” St. John Bosco coach Matt Dunn said. “I felt like two of the quarters we did a good job and obviously the fourth was the most important. It’s a great environment, great place to play, guys were excited. I didn’t think we played great overall but it was a great win.”
McCoy finished with a team-high 21 points, including his first eight points coming on dunks. Collins had 15 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. Komin also had 15 points, including 10 points in the third quarter.
“We felt like (Komin) had an advantage,” Dunn explained. “Our other guys did a great job of playing through him there at that stage which is something we have to be able to do to be a consistent team and have a chance to be a championship team. He’s really talented. He doesn’t get as many chances as maybe some other guys but I thought he carried us there for a while.”
Sophomore guard Demarcus Henry led Mater Dei (19-7, 5-3) with a game-high 23 points and seven rebounds. Senior forward Blake Davidson, who signed with Nevada, had 16 points and nine rebounds.
Komin scored Bosco’s first five points of the game. A layup by Collins put Bosco up 7-0 with 6:12 left in the first quarter.
McCoy’s fast break dunk with an assist from Harrington gave Bosco a 12-6 lead. McCoy closed out the first quarter with a baseline dunk to go up 18-12 heading into the second quarter.
McCoy began the second quarter with a breakaway windmill dunk to go up 20-14.
Mater Dei responded with an 8-2 run, capped by Davidson’s layup, which tied the game at 22 with 5:11 left in the second.
Henry’s dunk put the Monarchs up 26-24 for their first lead of the game late in the first half. Collins tied the game at 26.
Bosco led 30-28 at halftime. McCoy had 10 points in the first half and Henry had 12.
Komin’s four-point play put Bosco up 34-29 with 7:16 left in the third quarter. Collins’ double crossover followed by a one-handed dunk extended Bosco’s lead to 40-31.
“I’m quick for my size so I did a double cross and a euro (step) and I dunked it,” Collins said.
Komin’s three-point play put the Braves up 43-33.
“I just recognized that they weren’t really helping on me so I trusted in my ability to get the ball in the basket,” Komin said. “I practice those shots so I knew I could get it done.”
Mater Dei responded again and closed the third on an 8-0 run to cut Bosco’s lead to 48-45 heading into the fourth quarter.
Mater Dei sophomore guard Lucas Gaspar’s layup cut it to 48-47. McCoy responded with a fast break dunk, which put Bosco up 52-49.
After a back and forth stretch, Henry’s layup cut Bosco’s lead to 58-57 with two minutes to go.
The Braves caused several Mater Dei turnovers and closed out the game on an 8-0 run to secure the 66-57 victory.
“To get this win we had to play hard because we have to realize anybody that plays us is going to give us their best,” Collins said. “We played together moving the ball. We had so many good scorers on the team. Chris Komin, Brandon McCoy, Elzie Harrington, Max Ellis, Dominic Perfetti, Gavin Dean-Moss, it’s so many good scorers. We all have to learn how to work together, so we really pulled together in that fourth quarter and through out the whole game and made it happen.”
Mater Dei beat Bosco 62-59 in Santa Ana on Jan. 10, which was the date the Trinity-Mission League Showcase was originally scheduled to take place. The event was postponed due to air quality concerns during the recent wildfires.
The Monarchs will play at Santa Margarita (20-5, 6-2 Trinity League) on Monday.
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