Orange County Prep Basketball : Mater Dei Survives in Double Overtime, 53-48

Several times Saturday night, Gary McKnight, Mater Dei High School coach, was chewing his fingernails on the Monarch bench--and with good reason.

Mater Dei (20-1), Orange County’s No. 1-ranked team, had to rally to defeat Ocean View, 53-48, in a double-overtime, nonleague game in front of 2,200 at Ocean View High.

And that’s the way McKnight likes it.

“If you’re afraid of losing, you wouldn’t play Ocean View (13-6) in the middle of the season,” McKnight said, adding that several times in the closing minutes he thought his team would fall to the Seahawks.

Entering the fourth quarter, the Monarchs led, 40-32. But Ocean View scored the first 10 points of the final period to take a two-point lead with three minutes left.

Monarch center LeRon Ellis forcefully rejected a shot by the Seahawks’ Todd Pickard with one second left to send the game into overtime.

Each team scored only two points in the first extra period. The Monarchs clinched the victory in the second overtime on a driving layup by forward Erik Quigley and a fast-break dunk by Kevin Rembert.

Ellis scored 24 points to lead the Monarchs. Ricky Butler paced the Seahawks with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Ocean View Coach Jim Harris was pleased to see his team rally against the Monarchs. In fact, Harris is looking at the season as one big comeback. The Seahawks lost three of their first four Sunset League games, but have won two straight to move into a third-place tie with Fountain Valley.

“I think when we’re playing as a team, we can play with anybody,” Harris said. “It’s like we’re starting over again. It’s like December . . . we’re catching up.”

In girls’ play:

Edison 61, Marina 50--Kristi Smith scored 32 points to lead the No. 1-ranked Chargers (6-0, 21-1) past the Vikings (2-4, 11-10) in a Sunset League game at Marina. Stacy Johnson added 17 points and 7 rebounds, and Denise Ogburn had 11 assists. Dawn Charron led Marina with 15 points and 10 rebounds.