SANTA ANA, Calif. – In the aftermath of two primarily lopsided games, the matchup between host Mater Dei and Laverne Lutheran at the Nike Extravaganza was supposed to just fall in line. It was uncertain if LaVerne Lutheran star forward Grant Jerrett would even play after an ankle injury suffered earlier in the week.
Trojans guard Eric Cooper Jr. pulled his groin at practice the day before and was also a game time decision.
Both played.
Cooper Jr. scored a game-high 21 points.
Jerrett, meanwhile, stepped onto the court at the Meruelo Athletic Center on Saturday night with his left ankle heavily taped and was a factor on the defensive end of the floor.
He had three blocked shots in the first 1:58 of the second half. He had four in the quarter to keep the Trojans close.
While the Trojans had issues finding Jerrett on the inside, they had to get contributions elsewhere.
LaVerne Lutheran tied the game 40-40 when Brian Beard made a beautiful bounce pass near half court to Cameron Osorno running the left wing for a layup.
On the block Jerrett and Mater Dei forward Xavier Johnson battled. Block to block they went. Jerrett battled for position. Johnson wouldn't budge, despite the countless, inadvertent blows he took to the face.
"He's a big guy and I just had to throw my body weight on him, try to slow him down. He's a great player, so I just tried to shut him down," said Xavier Johnson. "We just tried to deny him the ball and make him do stuff he's not used to."
With 6:42 left in the game, Jerrett finally got free down low. He caught the ball on the short corner and exploded up for the put in plus the foul to give the Trojans a 49-47 lead. Jerrett finished with seven points on three of eight shooting.
But then the offense for the Trojans went stagnant with empty possessions on five of their next six trips down the floor and couldn't recover losing 71-66.
"I think we were too focused on the refs. I think we had to play in spite of that," said LaVerne Lutheran head coach Eric Cooper Sr. "We would get hit and we would just look for the foul instead of getting hit, get the ball, put it back in and I think that kind of consumed us …We got to overcome that because that's playoff basketball."
It was a physical game. Mater Dei (22-2) gave both Johnson's, Stanley along with Xavier, a crack at Jerrett, who spoke to the media afterwards with his white jersey bloodied from the contest. The team's combined for 39 fouls.
While the Trojans (18-6) were battling injuries, the Monarchs battled bouts of fatigue. It was their second game in as many nights and their third in four days.
"I think it's three games in four nights that did it. We played at (Orange Lutheran) Wednesday and that's a very tough team and we just kind of hit a wall, but the credit goes to them, they're a very good team," said Mater Dei head coach Gary McKnight.
On Friday they beat Trinity League foe St. John Bosco in the first night of the Nike Extravaganza.
