SANTA ANA – There have been many outstanding players in the Mater Dei boys basketball program over the past few decades.
Owen Verna on Friday did something only three other Monarchs had done before.
Verna made nine 3-pointers to tie a program record in Mater Dei’s 88-61 win over Crean Lutheran in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 second-round playoff game at Mater Dei High.
The other three with 9 3-pointers: Clay McKnight and Miles Simon in the 1993-94 season; Katin Reinhardt, 2011-12.
Verna, a 6-3 sophomore guard, is in fine company. McKnight, Simon and Reinhardt went on to play college basketball. Simon was an NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player at Arizona, played pro basketball in Europe and became a Lakers assistant coach. McKnight played at Pacific and UC Irvine; and Reinhardt played at USC and Marquette and played pro ball in Europe.
Mater Dei (24-6) will play at Heritage Christian (19-11) in Northridge in the quarterfinals Tuesday. Heritage Christian beat Roosevelt 55-39 on Friday.
Mater Dei defeated Heritage Christian 65-58 in a nonleague game at Mater Dei on Dec. 16.
Verna finished with 31 points. He went into the game averaging 10 points with a high game of 26 points.
Monarchs senior forward Zack Davidson scored 15 points with six rebounds. Freshman Brannon Martinsen scored 12 points with seven rebounds and junior guard Brady Karich had 14 assists.
Crean Lutheran (22-8), which went 10-0 in the Empire League, was led by senior guard Patrick Miranda’s 19 points. Senior guard Kenneth Bailey scored 18 points and freshman guard Kaiden Bailey scored 16 points.
Mater Dei is No. 2 in the Orange County Top 25 and Crean Lutheran is No. 10.
Verna made five 3s in the first quarter. His first one gave the Monarchs their first lead at 5-2. Verna made another one to make it 8-2. His third pushed the lead to 16-4, another to make it 19-9 and his fifth established a 22-4 lead and the rout was on.
Mater Dei sophomore Owen Verna tied a school record with 9…
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