Luke Barnett, Mater Dei dominate at California Live 2025 basketball tournament | Sporting News

Technically, Mater Dei boys basketball didn't win a bracket title last weekend at California Live.

Per Ballislife , the Monarchs needed to fit in their CIF-mandated two-week dead period starting on Sunday, June 29, so they couldn't partake in the third and final day of the showcase during which championships are played.

But the Monarchs and sharpshooting 4-star senior guard Luke Barnett might've been the single biggest winner of the weekend nonetheless.

Between Friday and Saturday, Mater Dei went 4-0 in the Kangaroo bracket one of a few with a strong argument to make as Cali Live's toughest including a thrilling 94-92 victory over eventual champion Salesian College Prep (Richmond).

The Monarchs opened up on Friday with a 71-48 drubbing of St.

Augustine followed up with a 58-56 win over Damien.

On Saturday came their "non-bracket" games a 79-67 win over Loyola followed by the high-scoring Salesian win to prove themselves as the bracket's top team, championship or not.

Barnett was incendiary all weekend, particularly on Saturday.

In the latter two rounds alone he exploded for 81 points and 18 made threes, including 46 points on 10 treys to edge out Salesian.

Possibly the greatest performance I have ever seen at the HS level LUKE BARNETT IS COLD pic.twitter.com/ldD80qOPbj That followed up a solid 3-1 showing at Section 7 for a 7-1 June which saw the Monarchs improve nearly every game over the course of 10 days.

At Section 7, Mater Dei's only loss in perhaps the toughest bracket (AIA) came in round two to nationally-ranked Florida state champion The Villages Charter, which rolled by a score of 68-45.

The team The Villages Charter would lose to in the finals? None other than Salesian , which perhaps made Mater Dei's Cali Live win over the Pride even a bit sweeter.

It also may have been a welcomed morale boost for the Monarchs after 4-star junior wing DeMarcus Henry who was first on the team in rebounds and steals, second in points and blocks, and third in assists transferred to Arizona powerhouse Compass Prep immediately after Section 7.

What will Mater Dei look like this winter? While the team's depth is much more of a question mark than usual, two things are for sure.

One is that the Monarchs have one of the premier scoring guards and pure shooters in California and beyond in Barnett, who averaged 21 PPG with 94 made threes last season, and two is that they'll go about as far as he can take them.

Per 247Sports, Barnett is 117th overall and the No.

16 shooting guard in the Class of 2026 with offers from Arizona State, UNLV, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, and UT Arlington.

He's on the smaller end for the position at 6-3.5, 180, but he's made a high school career of lighting up the best defenses and individual defenders in California and beyond.

With all the D-1 scouts in attendance at these two live viewing events, don't be surprised to see Barnett rack up a handful of new offers before his senior campaign even begins.

Luke Barnett (Mater Dei).

pic.twitter.com/S3EhUw27uS We connected with 26 Luke Barnett at @BoysCALiveHoops and talked about how he impacts winning, the latest with his recruitment, some of his goals moving forward, and more (sound on).

pic.twitter.com/8LcBF8qoJJ.

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