HILLSBORO, Ore.-- In one of the most anticipated games of the Les Schwab Invitational so far, a cross-country clash between Norcross out of Georgia and Mater Dei out of California, it was the West Coast-based Monarchs that prevailed 63-45 thanks to a dominant second quarter and strong play from junior guard Devin Askew.
Askew finished the game with 23 points and eight rebounds with a majority of his production coming in a second-quarter in which Mater Dei (11-2) outscored Norcross (14-1) 19-4 and held the Blue Devils without a field goal.
“The second quarter was pretty much the story of the game,” Norcross coach Jesse McMillan said. “Askew did a great job shooting the ball tonight which is something based on our scouting we were willing to give up early, but he shot really well tonight and that was the difference in the second quarter.”
After senior Kevon Eskridge knocked down a three to give Norcross a 10-9 lead near the end of the first quarter, Mater Dei took over. Askew nailed back-to-back threes from deep and both junior Wilhelm Breidenbach and junior Nick Davidson--both 6-foot-8 post-players-- gave the Blue Devils fits inside all night and were a big reason the Monarchs out-rebounded Norcross 39-23.
“If another team gets 16 more shots than you then you are going to lose the game,” McMillan said.
Breidenbach chipped in with nine points and junior Harrison Hornery secured nine boards to help the Monarchs reach their second Les Schwab Invitational championship game in three years, a late-night showdown against Eastside Catholic (WA.)
After losing back-to-back games a week ago in the Las Vegas-based Tarkanian Classic, Mater Dei seemed to come into the tournament with a renewed sense of focus. Meanwhile, Norcross dropped its first game all season and will now have to find a way to respond to adversity in the third-place game on Monday.
“We got defensive stops,” Askew said when asked about the second-quarter surge. “We picked up our defensive intensity more because even though it was good in the first quarter we needed to pick it up some more and start stringing together some key stops which carried us.”
Added Breidenbach: “Obviously we knew that they had a lot of shooters and athletes on their team so we just wanted to clog the lanes, closeout early, and limiting them to one shot which I thought we did a good job of tonight.”
After that second quarter, the closest the Blue Devils came was to within 13 when an Eskridge hit a three mid-way through the third quarter, but Davidson’s tip-dunk, which extended the Monarch’s lead to 17, snuffed out any comeback aspirations that Norcross had.
Both teams now have one more game in Oregon to leave their mark and finish the preseason off strong. With Mater Dei looking to win its first LSI championship the motivation is already there, the only question is how they will come out and perform on Monday against a difficult opponent in Eastside Catholic.
“The games aren’t going to get any easier,” Breidenbach said. “Whoever we play next is going to be a really good team and really good competition so we have to keep our energy and keep our composure on Monday.”
