St. John Bosco ends Mater Dei’s 24-game basketball win streak

When St. John Bosco hired away Matt Dunn from Damien six years ago, his task was to make the Braves relevant in Trinity League basketball. This stunning stat says it all: Dunn’s teams have now beaten the winningest coach in California history, Gary McKnight of Santa Ana Mater Dei, four times. No coach in California other than Dunn has pulled off that feat. McKnight’s teams have lost only 118 games in 39 seasons.

The latest defeat happened Thursday. The depleted Monarchs came in with a 24-0 record and had already clinched the league championship but three starters were out with injuries. St. John Bosco (19-2, 8-2) came away with an 69-56 victory, helping strengthen the Braves’ possible seeding for the upcoming Southern Section Open Division playoffs.

“We would have liked to have played them at full strength, but we were able to wear them down,” Dunn said.

Rising junior prospect Jeremiah Nyarko scored 20 points, Lamaj Lewis had 18 points and Scotty Washington 16. Mater Dei, which started three freshmen, received six threes from Kaden Minter, 14 points from Nick Davidson and 13 from Harrison Hornery.

Dunn had even better news later Thursday when he found out his son, Justin, had the walk-off single in Damien’s 6-5 baseball win over Chino Hills.

“That was a pretty cool day,” Dunn said.

Westchester 57, Narbonne 52: Zion Sutton scored 21 points for the Comets. Devean Williams scored 25 points for Narbonne.

El Camino Real 72, Taft 69: In a battle of Woodland Hills schools, it was El Camino Real prevailing behind Isaiah Johnson, who scored 22 points.

Birmingham 73, Granada Hills 51: David Elliott finished with 32 points for Birmingham. Jon Li had 18 for Granada Hills.

Chatsworth 89, Cleveland 36: Tim Lopez had 21 points for the Chancellors.

West Ranch 65, Hart 63: The Indians came close to pulling off the upset in a Foothill League game. Dillon Barrientos had 19 points for Hart.

South Pasadena 79, Monrovia 54: Sage Wayans led South Pasadena with 26 points.

Oak Park 63, Moorpark 50: The Eagles improved to 13-4 and 8-0 in league. Leonardo Beath finished with 16 points.

El Segundo 73, Lawndale 42: CJ Hardy had 25 points for undefeated El Segundo (11-0).

Orange Lutheran 62, JSerra 59: Isaac Peralta had 19 points for JSerra.

Sierra Canyon 89, Beverly Hills 69: The Trailblazers stayed unbeaten. Amari Bailey finished with 38 points.

Girls’ basketball

Hamilton 72, Brentwood 70: The Yankees improved to 5-0. Sydney Blevins scored 36 points.

Lynwood 69, Sierra Canyon 59: Rayah Marshall finished with 32 points for Lynwood. Mackenly Randolph led Sierra Canyon with 30 points.

Chaminade 70, Rolling Hills Prep 69: The Eagles won on a last-second shot.

Baseball

Granada Hills 7, Taft 1: Drew Gustafson struck out four in a complete game and Andrew Cuervo went four for four.

Birmingham 1, El Camino Real 0: Ricky Martinez threw six scoreless innings.

Cleveland 1, Chatsworth 0: Andrew Howe threw a three-hit shutout with eight strikeouts. Kai Moran had a sacrifice fly.

King 10, Norco 3: Troy Sandoval and Austin Castillo each had three hits and Melcor Flores had three RBIs, including a home run.

Corona 7, Corona Santiago 6: Andrew Walters hit a home run and had three hits. Daniel Perez also had three hits.

Corona Centennial 5, Roosevelt 4: The Huskies won on a bases-loaded walk-off hit batter. Trevor Loucks was three for three.

Alemany 3, Loyola 1: Jarrett Segura led the Warriors with two hits.

Simi Valley 14, Moorpark 4: Hunter Boylan had a home run and Dominic Womack contributed three RBIs.

Edison 7, Fountain Valley 1: Tucker Fountain threw the complete game, striking out seven.

Marina 8, Laguna Beach 4: Jake Lux had three hits and three RBIs.

Bishop Amat 11, Cathedral 3: Daniel Briones and Izaiah Ayala each went three for three.

Huntington Beach 10, Los Alamitos 8: The Oilers won their 10th game in a row despite a grand slam from Los Alamitos’ Drew Emmons. Blake Penso had a two-run double for Huntington Beach.

Aliso Niguel 8, San Clemente 2: Shaun McCaghren had a home run, double and four RBIs.

Damien 6, Chino Hills 5: The Spartans rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Royal 12, Oak Park 0: Riley Feigenbaum struck out 11 and threw a no-hitter.

Softball

Norco 8, King 0: Stevie Hansen threw five shutout innings for Norco (21-1).

San Pedro 10, Gardena 0: The Pirates (10-1) received 16 strikeouts from pitcher Vanessa Reed.

Esperanza 1, Villa Park 0: Emily Gomez threw a one-hit shutout.

Louisville 6, Chaminade 1: Grace Luderer struck out nine and also had two hits.

Girls’ soccer

Granada Hills 2, El Camino Real 1: In a City Section Division I semifinal, the Highlanders got a goal in overtime to advance to the championship game. They will face West Valley League rival Cleveland, which defeated Palisades 2-1.