SAN MARCOS — On paper, it was a mismatch.
Mater Dei Catholic, seeded No. 12 in the CIF San Diego Section Division 1 playoffs, losers of 11 in a row and a team in turmoil after coach Jason Bryant was let go earlier in the season, followed by the departure of several key players, had no chance.
Mission Hills, seeded No. 5, was playing at home in a shooter-friendly gym, making Mater Dei Catholic drive 90 minutes through traffic from the South Bay.
Games, however, aren’t played on paper. And the Crusaders gave Mission Hills all it could handle.
After trailing by as many as seven, Mission Hills finally took control in the third quarter, outscoring the Crusaders by 12 in the quarter and winning 52-49.
Looking for back-to-back 20-win seasons and three in the last four years, Mission Hills (19-10) will play the winner of No. 13-seeded Del Norte-No. 4 seed Victory Christian on Friday.
“We take every opponent seriously, but we came out kind of lazy,” said Jake VanDerVoste, who led Mission Hills with 20 points. “And we struggled shooting. We were getting good shots, but nothing was going down.”
Mater Dei Catholic (7-20) led 24-21 at the half, hitting 5-of-10 3-pointers while turning the ball over just three times.
Mission Hills missed its first seven 3-point attempts before Jake VanDerVoste connected late in the first quarter.
The Grizzlies missed eight more 3-point shots in the second quarter and were 1-for-16 at the break.
Mater Dei Catholic led 24-17 before Mission Hills got buckets by Mykah Simmons and VanDerVoste to cut the deficit to three at the half.
The second half was different as Mission Hills made 4-of-7 3-point shots in the third quarter and 1-of-3 in the fourth to finish 6-of-27.
“Mater Dei was ready to play,” said Mission Hills coach Curtis Hofmeister. “And we had trouble shooting the ball.
“Fortunately, we got it together.”
The Grizzlies opened a 10-point lead at 49-39 with 4:40 to play, but the Crusaders whittled the deficit to three and had the ball with 25 seconds to play.
But a corner 3-point try didn’t fall and a wild attempt at the buzzer was off the mark.
VanDerVoste led Mission Hills with 20, and he had six rebounds. Mykah Simmons added 121 points and six rebounds.’
Austin Seeman had all seven of his points in the third quarter. He finished with six rebounds.
Johnathan Hawthorne led Mater Dei Catholic with 21 – 12 in the fourth quarter.
Donovan Bryant, the son of Jason Bryant, finished with 14 points.
Freshman Donovan Aniagyei, who stands 6-foot-9, only scored six points, but had 13 rebounds and blocked a pair of shots.
“This certainly wasn’t pretty,” VanDerVoste said. “They surprised us a little. “But we’re in the playoffs now so it’s survive and advance.”
