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“In towns and cities... there is no more important institution than the local paper.”
Warren Buffett
March 4, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
When La Mirada High lost to Harvard-Westlake High in the CIF-Southern Section Open Division on Feb. 24, head coach Randy Oronoz and his team did not know where it would be seeded in the CIF State Southern California Regionals. There was hope that the Matadores would get a chance to host a playoff game for the first time since 2024 as they had been on the road for eight straight Open Division playoff games the past two seasons.
As it turned out, La Mirada was rewarded this past Sunday as the top seed in Division I and drew Mater Dei High in this past Tuesday’s first round. The Matadores were game for the mighty Monarchs and built a pair of 17-point leads in the second quarter, the last coming with 5:01 left in the half. But Mater Dei, led by the trio of Luke Barnett, Zain Majeed and Richie Ramirez, dominated the final 21 minutes of the game and upset the host Matadores 88-79, ending their season at 24-9.
“We weren’t tough enough; we missed a lot of blown assignments,” said Oronoz. “They didn’t do anything that we didn’t know was going to happen. We were quiet; we didn’t communicate enough. Unfortunately, they were hot, and we didn’t respond with the toughness that we’ve had all year. It’s an unfortunate way to lose because up 17 in the first half, even up by nine [at the half], we’ve done a good job of winning those games.”
Mater Dei went on a 14-6 run to end the half and carried that momentum into the second half even though the Matadores were up 54-49 with 3:30 left in the third quarter. But as hot as La Mirada’s shooting was in the first half, it was hotter for the Monarchs in the second half. Held to seven points in the first half, Majeed was on fire in the third quarter, connecting on the team’s first three shots and five of six in the stanza while Barnett sank three perimeter shots, the last one giving the Monarchs their first lead since the 5:11 mark of the first quarter.
The lead would change hands eight times over the next four minutes and when Najeed scored with 5:33 left in the game, Mater Dei had its biggest lead at 73-70. That was the second basket in what would be a 12-0 run. In fact, the Monarchs ended the game by hitting on 13 of their last 19 shots from the field.
La Mirada started strong as all five starters scored in the opening quarter and combined to shoot 60 percent from the field. That trend continued in the second quarter as the Matadores missed five shots from the field. When it was halftime, La Mirada was shooting 59 percent and had two stretches of making five and six straight baskets, respectively. Even with that, Oronoz wasn’t completely satisfied.
“I thought we settled a lot,” said Oronoz. “I thought we were shooting a bunch of threes. The plan was to attack; guys didn’t want to listen and attack the hole to try and get positive…get to the free throw line, get guys in foul trouble. We settled early, and if we’re not going to listen to the scheme, then we give them opportunities to make runs to get back in the games, and that’s what happened.”
Junior Jordyn Houston was pacing La Mirada with a dozen points while senior Andrew Castro and juniors Cisco Munoz and Gene Roebuck all had eight points in the first half. But it continued to be the Ramirez show before halftime with Barnett and Majeed joining the party in the second half. Those three accounted for all but seven points with Ramirez leading everyone with 29 points and the other two each scoring 26 points.
Another component that hurt the Matadores was the rebounding, in which they collected just 19, including two on the offensive end, both by Houston. Roebuck led the Matadores with 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Houston had 17 points and five rebounds. Senior King-Riley Owens also scored 17 points and added four assists.
“We don’t crash the [offensive] boards; we want to put more of an emphasis on transition defense,” said Oronoz. “So all year, we haven’t offensive rebounded well, especially against a team like this. If you send two or three to the glass, and they get to the ball, they’re pretty fast and will be able to get shooters wide open.
“Unfortunately, like I said, when those shots are falling it wasn’t an issue,” he continued. “But when we’re missing shots, we needed extra opportunities, and we just didn’t come out with them.”
Since at least the early 2000s, this was the first time La Mirada had faced Mater Dei. During the regular season, the Matadores faced only one CIF-SS Division I team, and that was Rancho Christian High, a 76-65 victory. Mater Dei was a Division 2 team and had a 20-15 record entering last Tuesday.
“[Mater Dei head coach] Gary [McKnight] has won like 1,000 more games than me, or whatever the number is,” joked Oronoz. “He’s done a great job at Mater Dei and he’s still doing it, and they did a good job. It was cool to have Mater Dei come to La Mirada to compete. Unfortunately, we might have played better on the road. But we loved that we were able to give the community a home game and shout out to Mater Dei for being a little tougher than us today, making more shots. It’s a tough way to go out but hats off to them.”
As a side note, this was the fifth home loss for the Matadores since their gymnasium was renovated, and all of them have come in the playoffs. La Mirada lost to San Juan Hills High in the 2022 CIF-SS Division 2A finals, the 2023 2A finals to Rancho Christian High, the 2023 Division II Southern California Regionals to Oxnard High and a 2024 Division 1 first round game to St. Bernard High.