Mater Dei Extravaganza: 2022 Standouts (Pt. 1)

<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Normally dubbed the Nike Extravaganza, an event that has been around for decades had to scale back on multiple fronts in 2021. Because of the pandemic, the folks at Mater Dei had to take a more regional approach to teams who participated and limited the number of fans that could be in attendance. Even with those roadblocks, the Extravaganza was still a high level two-day event filled with talent. Here’s a look at the standouts from the class of 2022.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Seth Brown</strong>, Orange Lutheran - Brown is a strong and smooth scoring wing who showed his ability to score inside and out in the match-up against Rolling Hills Prep. Brown has the ability to space the floor from the perimeter off the catch or off the bounce with a consistent jumper, but can also slash his way to the rim and finish above or through contact.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="972526" first="Rob" last="Diaz III"]</strong>, JSerra - Diaz scored a game-high 28 points, including 23 in the second half in the Lions’ loss to Crean Lutheran. Diaz is well-known for his three-point shooting and deep range on his jumper. It was good to see him put it on the deck a little bit more and operate in scoring areas inside the arc.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>Christian Estrada</strong>, St. John Bosco - It’s not often that Estrada leads the Braves in the scoring column as he’s usually the team’s top rebounder and glue guy on the defensive end of the floor. The 6-foot-7 junior did a nice job of exposing mismatches inside in a win over Long Beach Poly as he scored a game-high 22 points.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="954242" first="Koat" last="Keat"]</strong>, Crean Lutheran - Keat broke onto the SoCal hoops scene with Renaissance Academy and continued his strong play this season after transferring to the Irvine-based private school. Keat, a 6-foot-8 forward, has point-forward type of ball skills, feel and vision, plays with a high motor and excels in transition scoring situations. Keat finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds in a win even though he fouled out with 5:09 left in the game.</span></p>