mater dei

History is expected to happen this weekend for Rolling Hills Prep boys’ basketball coach Harvey Kitani. The only question is whether it takes place Friday or Saturday.

Kitani has 999 career coaching victories and has two opportunities to reach 1,000 with games against Bishop Gorman on Friday at Mater Dei and Hawthorne Math & Science Magnet on Saturday at Harbor College.

Only two other coaches in California history have reached 1,000 wins — Gary McKnight at Mater Dei and Mike LeDuc at Damien, according to stats compiled by CalHiSports.com.

“You kind of are trying to comprehend that,” Kitani said. “It’s nothing I signed up for. You hear the old coaches say you’ve been coaching a long time. It’s just unbelievable being fortunate to be healthy and my support system at home has allowed me to do that stuff.”

Most of Kitani’s wins came coaching 35 years at Fairfax. He left the City Section after the 2015-16 season to coach at Rolling Hills Prep, where he has won four section titles. It’s 15 minutes from his home and two of his sons attended Rolling Hills Prep.

One tidbit from Kitani is that he spent one season — 1979-80 — coaching at San Fernando. He said he probably would never have left, but he got displaced, leaving him with no teaching job. He spent 1980-81 helping coach at Cal State Dominguez Hills and taking classes to become a special education teacher. Then he ended up at Fairfax and never left again until retiring from teaching.

Former Westchester coach Ed Azzam holds the City Section record for most coaching victories.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.

Joe Sterling, one of the best three-point shooters in the country, tried to put up a three-point attempt from long range at the outset of the third quarter on Wednesday night at Sierra Canyon. He must have forgotten who was guarding him, because Brandon McCoy came flying like Superman to block the shot, then took the deflected ball, dribbled and delivered an uncontested dunk.

“I knew he was going to shoot it,” McCoy said.

McCoy’s athleticism was on display all night as No. 1-ranked Sierra Canyon put itself in position to be the No. 1 seed for next week’s Mission League tournament with a 55-47 home victory over Harvard-Westlake.

McCoy finished with 20 points, including back-to-back threes in the second quarter when he helped Sierra Canyon (19-1, 5-0) wipe away an early deficit. He had zero points in the first quarter and 20 points the rest of the way.

“I wanted him to be more aggressive,” Sierra Canyon coach Andre Chevalier said. “He went into attack mode.”

Not only was McCoy contributing on offense, but his defense helped the Trailblazers hold Harvard-Westlake’s leading scorer, Sterling, to a season-low five points. He made one of eight shots and got into foul trouble.

“The fact he’s playing defense at a high level is amazing,” Chevalier said. “That’s what college coaches are looking for.”

Sierra Canyon also received a strong performance from 6-foot-8 Brannon Martinsen, who had 16 points. “I found my role,” he said. “It was figuring out how to complement guys as good as me.”

Pierce Thompson led No. 3 Harvard-Westlake (21-3, 4-1) with 14 points. The Wolverines struggled against Sierra Canyon’s half-court trap and didn’t have enough offensive contributors with Sterling taken out of the game by the Trailblazers’ defense.

“They’re good,” Harvard-Westlake coach David Rebibo said. “I don’t think they’re invincible. They’re deep and versatile. That’s what makes them so dangerous.”

The Mission League will hold a tournament beginning Jan. 29. The first two teams in the regular-season standings are guaranteed Southern Section playoff berths. Harvard-Westlake closes with tough matchups against Sherman Oaks Notre Dame on Saturday and St. Francis at home next week. Sierra Canyon has a home game against Crespi and a road game against Chaminade.

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame 68, Crespi 56: NaVorro Bowman scored 33 points for the Knights.

Loyola 104, Bishop Alemany 70: Deuce Newt had 50 points and made 10 threes for Loyola. Austin Acy, a freshman, had 40 points for Alemany.

St. Francis 66, Chaminade 56: Cherif Millogo had 20 points and Luke Paulus 17 for St. Francis.

Santa Margarita 102, Servite 69: Drew Anderson finished with 35 points and 10 rebounds for the Eagles.

St. John Bosco 56, JSerra 50: Christian Collins scored 30 points and Max Ellis and Tariq Iscandari had key threes to stay unbeaten in the Trinity League.

Mater Dei 81, Orange Lutheran 79: Zain Majeed scored with 1.5 seconds left for Mater Dei. Luke Barnett had 23 points and became Mater Dei’s career three-point leader with 373 moving past Taylor King.

Corona del Mar 76, Los Alamitos 54: Ryan Mansouri scored 23 points for 23-1 Corona del Mar.

Cleveland 56, Chatsworth 55: Aaron Krueger led Chatsworth with 17 points.

Birmingham 74, Granada Hills 53: Tekeio Phillips had 16 points and Christian Graham 15 to help the Patriots set up a showdown with Cleveland on Friday to decide first place in the West Valley League.

El Camino Real 44, Taft 43: The Royals made a three at the end to win.

Narbonne 63, San Pedro 62: Branden Key had 24 points to help Narbonne pull off the Marine League upset.

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Kaleena Smith scored 50 points, including 14 after regulation, to lead Ontario Christian to a 96-87 double-overtime triumph over San José Archbishop Mitty in a high-noon showdown between the top two teams in the state Saturday in the featured game of the Kay Yow Showcase at Mater Dei.

Tatiana Griffin contributed 20 points and 18 rebounds, while Dani Robinson added 16 points for the No. 1-ranked Knights (20-0), who overcame a 12-point deficit with four minutes left in the fourth quarter. Smith was fouled with 4.7 seconds left and made both free throws to pull Ontario Christian even at 78-78. Archbishop Mitty missed a three-pointer at the buzzer.

“I’m pretty confident I’ll make them in that situation,” Smith, who reached the 50-point mark for the second time this season, said of her free throws. “This is what I do. I was in a similar spot in the Southern Section finals last year and made them.”

Smith, a junior, made nine of 10 from the foul line and added four steals and three assists. Her career high for points in a game is 63, which she accomplished her freshman year.

No. 2-ranked Archbishop Mitty (12-2), which lost to Etiwanda in the Open Division state finals last season, got 25 points from McKenna Woliczko and 21 from Ze’Ni Patterson.

The Northern and Southern California powerhouses could meet again for the state championship in March.

“During a timeout in the fourth quarter I reminded them why they’re here,” Knights coach Aundre Cummings said. “The girls love being No. 1 in the country and the attention that brings but with that comes the pressure to prove yourselves.”

With a week to go before opening the Trinity League with a showdown against St. John Bosco at home, Santa Margarita continued its preparation Friday night, defeating defending state Open Division champion Eastvale Roosevelt 65-49 at JSerra.

The Eagles are 18-2 and have one final tuneup Saturday against Fairfax at St. Francis before facing the Braves on Jan. 9.

Santa Margarita almost lost a big lead in the second half before prevailing. The Eagles led 16-2 to start the game. Drew Anderson had 19 points and 10 rebounds. Kaiden Bailey added 14 points and Brayden Kyman 13.

St. Francis 58, Fairfax 41: The Golden Knights (15-2) received 18 points, 11 rebounds, 10 blocks and eight assists from center Cherif Millogo.

Seattle Rainier Beach 75, Mater Dei 67: Former Sherman Oaks Notre Dame senior Tyran Stokes had 26 points for Rainier Beach in Arizona. Zain Majeed led Mater Dei with 28 points.

Servite 76, Rolling Hills Prep 72: The Friars picked up a good nonleague victory before opening Trinity League play.

Campbell Hall 61, Arcadia 54: The Vikings picked up their biggest win of the season. Ean Britt finished with 21 points. Christian Rogers had 15 points.

Inglewood 112, St. Paul 57: Jason Crowe Jr., averaging 43.9 points, scored 50 points in the win at Morningside.

Redondo Union 89, Santa Barbara 54: Chace Holley scored 41 points for the Sea Hawks (15-3).

Calabasas 66, El Camino Real 49: Johnny Thyfault had 17 points for Calabasas.

La Mirada 68, Crespi 57: The Matadores (11-6) helped their Southern Section Open Division playoff hopes by knocking off the Celts. Jordyn Houston had 17 points.

Girls basketball

Ontario Christian 100, Carondelet 49: There’s no slowing down 16-0 Ontario Christian. Tatianna Griffin had 32 points and 11 rebounds. Kaleena Smith added 29 points.

Brentwood 73, Thousand Oaks 50: The Eagles handed Thousand Oaks its second loss of the season. Reena White scored 21 points.

Troy 59, Sonora 42: Lexi Joko scored a career-high 26 points for Troy in a league opener.