NEWPORT BEACH >> Mater Dei’s defense made nearly every possession difficult for the Tesoro boys basketball team Friday in the semifinals of the Beach Bash tournament at Corona del Mar High School.
The Monarchs held Tesoro to under 10 points in every quarter and converted plenty of the Titans’ missed shots into fastbreak points in a 54-29 victory.
Mater Dei (5-1) will play Etiwanda in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Tesoro (10-1) will play JSerra for third place at 6 p.m.
Even though JSerra defeated Etiwanda, 57-39, in the other semifinal Friday, the Lions are playing in the consolation final because they were defeated by Foothill, 69-64, on Wednesday.
The Knights were filling in for Crean Lutheran, which had to withdraw from the tournament because of a positive COVID-19 test.
Since Foothill only played that one game, the Lions got to advance to the semifinals despite losing.
The Monarchs, who are ranked No.1 in the county and No. 6 in Division 1 of the CIF Southern Section, carried their defensive effort from the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s come-from-behind, 66-54 victory over Edison into the game against the Titans.
“Sometimes we get better as the week goes,” Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said. “We were talking tonight. Sometimes we don’t talk enough. The kids were into it, they were moving.”
Junior Zach Davidson scored 15 points and had six rebounds and Owen Verna scored 11 points to lead the Monarchs.
A 6-0 run early in the second quarter gave Mater Dei a double-digit lead.
Mater Dei led by 15 at halftime and Owen’s 3-pointer in the third quarter upped the lead to 20.
Carson Brown scored 13 to lead the Titans.
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“I thought our guys had some great looks early,” Tesoro coach Steve Garrett said. “We didn’t finish a lot of those around the rim. It kind of snowballed because when we missed, they are out running and scoring. So it’s not just us not scoring two, everything was a four-point exchange.”
The Titans, who are ranked No. 14 in the county and No. 4 in Division 2A, won their school-record 10th consecutive game Wednesday, defeating Los Alamitos, 63-49.
“I love playing Mater Dei, Garrett said. “I look forward to the challenge.”