Mater East boys basketball defeats Democracy Prep

Mater East and Democracy Prep’s boys basketball teams will likely see each other again in the Class 3A Southern Region playoffs and state tournament.

If the teams’ two regular-season meetings showed anything, it’s that either team could be holding the 3A state championship trophy in February.

After suffering a double-digit loss on the road in December, Mater East held serve on its home court, as the Knights, No. 2 in the Review-Journal’s 3A rankings, fended off top-ranked Democracy Prep for a 75-64 home win in front of a raucous, standing-room-only crowd Tuesday night.

“This is what I remember high school basketball being about,” Mater East coach Antoine Wright said. “Having a rivalry — there’s not enough of that in this town. You got a lot of schools that are near each other but don’t have this type of energy.”

Mater East (13-6, 5-1 3A Desert League) lost at Democracy Prep 67-54 on Dec. 6. Democracy Prep (12-6, 6-1) defeated Mater East for the 3A state title last year after losing to the Knights in the 3A Southern Region title game.

“Since I’ve been here, this is a game that we circle on our schedule,” Wright said. “We know they want to beat us and they know we want to beat them, so we look forward to playing.”

It was a team effort Tuesday for Mater East on both ends. The Knights had four players in double figures, led by Deven Taylor’s 17 points. Miles Williams scored nine of his 13 points in the fourth quarter.

“It’s really big for everyone to be contributing,” Williams said. “It makes it harder on other teams, so they don’t have to focus on one or two guys. It makes us feel better at the team.”

On defense, Mater East kept Democracy Prep’s high-scoring guard Josiah Stroughter to four points.

Stroughter “is a hell of a player,” Wright said. “We just kept putting different guys on him. … We decided it wasn’t going to be one guy, so we tried to give him different looks. He’s probably the best guard in this league.”

It appeared Mater East would put the game out of reach right before halftime after a tight first quarter. The Knights used a 15-2 run to take a 38-24 lead late in the second quarter. But Democracy Prep scored eight quick points and trailed only 38-32 at the break.

Democracy Prep wouldn’t get any closer. Mater East kept Democracy Prep without a field goal in the first three minutes of the third quarter, and the Knights stretched their lead back to double digits.

“We put trust into each other, that’s all it was,” Williams said of Mater East’s defensive efforts. “We trust each other, and we believe that (anyone) can guard everybody. As long as we continue to trust each other, I feel like we’ll be good on both sides of the ball.”

Freshman Dashaun Harris paced Democracy Prep with 22 points, and Dion Parker added 11 points.

Mater East’s Lonnie Bass, who holds notable Division I offers from San Jose State and New Mexico, added 12 points, and Kwes Young scored 10 off the bench. The Knights made 15 of 18 free-throw attempts.

“It’s a team effort,” Wright said. “We can’t rely on one guy. (Starters Kendon Jones) and Lonnie got in foul trouble, and we got to have our bench guys be able to step up and come in and make an impact. Not just be on the floor but come out and make something happen, and we did a good job of that tonight.”

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.