jason day: serra beats st. paul

socalogo.gif (8739 bytes)
SoCalHoops High School News

Jason Day: CIF SS Playoffs-Division IV-AA
Serra Beats St. Paul 61-59--(Feb. 26, 1999)

We knew we could count on Jason to give us a report of one game or another, and we're really glad he went over to see the Serra game at LMU tonight. Sounds like quite a comeback. And, as always, his articles also appear over at UltraStudentAthletes Online. With the win, Serra gets the winner of Twentynine Palms v. Crespi (we're still waiting for the results of that one, played at Yucca Valley High School). Here's Jason's report:

SERRA COMES BACK TO BEAT ST. PAUL 61-59

By Jason Day

These two teams split the regular season series with each winning squeakers. This one couldn't have squeaked any more. Before a large crowd at Loyola Marymount they squared off again, and again it turned out to be a thriller.

Not that it started out that way. St. Paul jumped all over Serra in the first half, and enjoyed a nice 14 pt. cushion around the half. At that time I was musing with a couple of our kids about St. Paul's chances. I hadn't seen them play before, but when I noticed that their coach only seemed to be talking to six players whenever they were in a huddle (and that was all that really paid much attention), they must not have had too deep a bench. Then, I had noticed that while they had some excellent outside shooting, offensively it was really all they had. Old saying, "...live by the jumper....die by the jumper...". I told the kids that if Serra came out and put the ball inside to Sanders and Lewis, if they just attacked the zone that had stymied them for most of the first half, if they ran at every opportunity, they could win this game.

God, I'm good. And so was Serra's second half game plan. By the beginning of the 4th quarter they were within 4 or 5, and all those pretty shots of St. Paul were falling less and less. By about 4 minutes left in the game, the St. Paul kids looked dead tired, weren't moving their feet like they did earlier, weren't rotating over to help like they did earlier, and most importantly, couldn't hustle over for the double team on Sanders or Lewis, and could no longer beat them to the boards. For most of the 4th, all of Serra's points were in the paint, while all of St. Paul's were from the perimeter. You figure the percentages.

With :49 secs. left in the game St. Paul was up 59-57 and had the ball out of bounds. They turned it over and Sanders converted the TO into 2 points
on a nice move to the rack from the low block. 59-59 tie. St. Paul pushed the ball up the court and turned it over again on an errant pass. :26 secs. left....59-59. Serra has a couple of strategy time outs, get the ball to Ryan Odums, and he runs a little clock then drives to the baseline from the right
wing, throws that big body into the paint, raises and sinks an off balance but true layup...61-59 Serra with 2 ticks left. They put one tick back, St. Paul
can't get a good shot, game over.

Serra moves on to the Div 4AA SS final against either Crespi or Twenty-nine Palms. No dis to either of those teams, but many believe this game was for the championship. We'll see.

later

jason day