LA MIRADA — The Mater Dei boys basketball team faced lots of adversity against top-seed La Mirada during Tuesday’s CIF State Divivision I first-round playoff game on Tuesday.
Yet, the No. 16 seed Monarchs remained cool, calm, and collected as they erased a nine-point halftime to rally and defeat La Mirada, 86-79.
Senior Luke Barnett had 22 points, including six 3-pointers. The Kansas commit was instrumental in the Monarchs’ second-half push, dropping 19 points in the winning effort.
“I didn’t want it to be my last game. I wanna keep playing with these guys, I love this team,” Barnett said. “ I think that gave us a little extra motivation at halftime to come out and try to get the win.”
POSTGAME: Speaking with Mater Dei’s Luke Barnett. He had 22 points in his team’s 86-79 win over La Mirada @SGVNSports pic.twitter.com/F0Lk3wqjlg
— Gabriel Duarte (@GabrielNDuarte_) March 4, 2026
Mater Dei (21-15) will be on the road at JSerra in their second-round playoff game Thursday.
JSerra was a 60-59 winner over Francis Parker.
It’s a crushing defeat for La Mirada (24-9), who made a stellar run to the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals this year. It was the Matadores’ first home playoff game since 2024.
“We weren’t tough enough, we missed a lot of blown assignments,” La Mirada coach Randy Oronoz said. “They didn’t do anything that we didn’t know was gonna happen. Unfortunately, they got hot and we didn’t respond with the toughness we had all year.”
La Mirada never trailed once in the first half thanks to some timely offense from Jordyn Houston. The junior had 12 of his 17 points in the first half as the Monarchs struggled to find answers.
The Matadores saw their lead jump to 13 points when Houston made a three less than a minute into the second quarter.
Junior Zain Majeed kept the Monarchs in the game by giving La Mirada fits in the paint. He complemented Barnett’s perimeter shooting very well, which opened up things offensively for Mater Dei.
Majeed finished with a game-high 31 points.
Eventually, the Monarchs cut the deficit to just nine points at halftime.
Barnett sparked the comeback effort to begin the second half. He had nine points in the third quarter, all from behind the arc, as Mater Dei took the lead with 2:30 left in the quarter.
“That’s why he’s going to Kansas,” Mater Dei coach Gary McKnight said. “He’s an exceptional kid.”
La Mirada retook the lead with under a minute to go in the third, but Mater Dei managed to enter the fourth quarter with a one-point lead.
Mater Dei outscored the Matadores 21-15 in the fourth quarter to complete the comeback effort.
The Matadores’ fate was all but sealed when Gene Roebuck, the team’s leading scorer, fouled out with 1:06 left to go in the game.
McKnight enjoyed the effort he saw from his team down the stretch to secure the win.
“I was just real pleased with the way the kids battled back because we were down by about 12 at one time. So I was really pleased,” McKnight said. “We’ve lost a lot of close games this year, so it was nice to win a close game.”
There was a brief altercation between both teams following the postgame handshake. But coaches and security were able to clear it up.
POSTGAME: An altercation happening immediately after the La Mirada-Mater Dei game. Players and coaches involved @SGVNSports pic.twitter.com/RapzONgv0M
— Gabriel Duarte (@GabrielNDuarte_) March 4, 2026