Boys’ basketball: The fallout from scoring 137 points

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It wasn’t exactly the best way to start a new coaching job, playing Santa Ana Mater Dei in a basketball opener. But the previous coach at Norwalk John Glenn High wanted his team in the Ocean View tournament, so Wesley Phillips found his team facing the Monarchs on Monday night.

The result was a 137-26 defeat.

‘They were playing hard,’ Phillips said. ‘I don’t think they were running up the score. Our guys have to learn from that.’

What irked Phillips was a timeout Mater Dei took in the final seconds.

‘That was very unsportsmanlike and lacked class and I didn’t appreciate it,’ he said

Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight said Tuesday morning the reason he called timeout was because he thought one of his players had been injured. Once he learned the player was OK, he said he had the team stay on the court.

Mater Dei’s best player, Stanley Johnson, had 27 points in only nine minutes of action.

Mater Dei Athletic Director Philip Bellomo said in an email that the Monarchs called off their press after the first half and played a 2-3 zone in the second half, with 20 players playing in the game.

There was running clock in the fourth quarter.

-- Eric Sondheimer