Shorthanded Serra Stuns Bellarmine
The Padres toughed out a come-from-behind road win down three starters.
The Serra Padres entered the week without point guard Ryan Pettis, then lost two more starters to knee injuries during Tuesday’s loss to Riordan.
With just nine players suited up, they trekked down to Bellarmine on Friday night and squeaked out a 42-37 win.
“I think the Serra system has developed us in a way that we can just implement new dudes to fill the roles,” said junior Mikey Ballout, who scored 10 of his 14 points in the final three minutes to lead the comeback. “There’s a place for everyone. Whenever someone goes down, someone’s there to follow in their footsteps.”
Without Pettis, Angelo Ghattas and Alton Robenalt, Ballout shone, just as he did on Tuesday when he scored 18 in a loss to Riordan. His floater tied the game at 33 with 2:58 to go, and he scored off an inbound pass from sophomore Sebastian Margate with three seconds left on the shot clock to put Serra (10-4, 2-2 WCAL) ahead for good with 2:12 left, all part of a decisive 12-0 run.
His 3-pointer with 30.2 seconds left made it 40-33 and all but sealed the game, though he did leave the door ever so slightly open for Bellarmine (6-8, 1-3) after being charged a technical foul when he yelled at his defender in front of the referee.
Will Corbett made both free throws with 27.6 left, but the Bells came up empty on the subsequent possession and scored just twice from the field in the fourth quarter, with Noah Custodio scoring in the final seconds after the outcome had been decided.
“We didn’t shoot the ball well,” Bellarmine head coach Alex Sarrett said after his team shot 13-for-43 (30.2%) from the field for the game. “Where we were catching the ball in the post and where Will was getting his looks, those are ones that normally go down.”
The hosts led from the 4:50 mark in the first quarter all the way until Ballout tied it with 2:58 left, but never led by more than 10. Leading 33-28 before the decisive run, a violation wiped out a Nick Corbett free throw that would have extended the lead to six, and sophomore JJ Barton attempted a three that went halfway down before bouncing out.
Serra jumped on the opportunity, with Alex Naber draining a three to set the stage for Ballout’s late takeover.
“We started moving the ball a little bit better, and the ball movement allowed him to get open,” head coach Chuck Rapp said of Ballout’s late surge. “Good shooters don’t make tough shots, they make open shots, and we got him open shots.”
With a makeshift lineup, Rapp’s defensive principles, the ones that have been a staple ever since he became head coach at Serra in 2000, were the constant. Bellarmine’s 12-point first quarter was the only one where the Padres allowed double digits.
“Most people would say that was an ugly game, but for me, it was beautiful,” Rapp said.
Chris Philpott, starting in place of Ghattas, scored six of his nine points in the second quarter to help Serra reach halftime down just 20-17, and Mariano Bermudez came off the bench to hit a three after Bellarmine had taken a 26-19 lead on a Nick Corbett putback.
“Serra’s Serra. They’re gonna bring what they bring,” Sarrett said when asked if the changes in personnel affected his team’s preparation. “You’ve gotta prepare how you prepare for them every game.”
Nick Corbett led the Bells with 11 points and 12 rebounds, Will Corbett scored eight and Gospich added seven.
Naber, one of just two regular starters available for Serra, scored 11 points, none bigger than the 3-pointer that sparked the game-winning 12-0 run.
“It says a lot about the character of the team,” Rapp said. “Their backs were really against the wall, and we could have tapped out. We made it into a rock fight.”
Rapp’s had no shortage of successes across his coaching career. His now 414 wins include four CCS championships, a pair of NorCal titles and a state championship in 2016. Friday night’s triumph may not have been played on an NBA court in front of thousands of fans, but it’s one that stood out to him.
“I told the guys in the locker room after the game that when I retire, this is one I’ll remember forever,” Rapp reflected. “It was an improbable gut-shot victory.”
Mitty 51, Sacred Heart Cathedral 47 (OT)
Mitty’s trip to Sacred Heart Cathedral required overtime for a second consecutive year, but this time, the Monarchs escaped with the win.
San Diego commit Gavin Ripp’s steal and layup gave Mitty (10-4, 4-0 WCAL) the lead for good with 3:09 left in OT, and UC Riverside commit Tyler Jones hit a pair of late threes to seal the victory.
Jones’ deep three at the end of the shot clock with 1:07 left in the extra period gave the Monarchs a 48-43 lead, and he connected with 19.4 to go and the shot clock winding down again to make it 51-45. Mitty didn’t allow a made field goal in the extra period.
Sacred Heart Cathedral (7-7, 0-4) sank five 3-pointers in the first quarter to jump out to an 18-8 lead and led 30-21 at halftime. The Monarchs fired back with a 16-6 third quarter, taking a 37-36 lead with 1:01 left in the period on a Nathan Noronha 3-pointer.
Noronha recorded a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, and it was his basket with 2:40 left in regulation that gave Mitty a 41-40 lead. He scored again 50 seconds later, but Zemaury Erfe, who scored all eight of his points in the second half, hit a three to tie it with 1:23 on the clock. Erfe, who went scoreless in Tuesday’s loss to St. Ignatius, also hit a 3-pointer with 3:44 left to give the Fightin’ Irish a 40-39 advantage.
Fed Pernell scored a game-high 19 points in the losing effort, including 12 in the first half, while Mykel Patton scored six of his 10 in the second quarter.
Jones scored 14 for the Monarchs and Grayson Jalal added eight. Aaron Biebel didn’t score, but totaled a game-high 12 rebounds.
Riordan 81, Valley Christian 62
Andrew Hilman scored 14 points, Dorde Curcic scored 13, Zion Sensley added 11 and Jordy McKenzie, Jasir Rencher and John Tofi Jr. each scored 10 as Riordan (9-3, 4-0 WCAL) erupted for 27 points in the third quarter to pull away for a ninth consecutive win over the Warriors. Diego Martinez led Valley Christian (9-5, 1-3) with 19 points and Tzahari Trevino added 15.
St. Ignatius 56, St. Francis 42
St. Ignatius (12-2, 3-1) led 15-4 after a quarter and opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run to beat the Lancers at home. St. Francis (3-11, 1-3) trailed just 32-27 after the third, but threes by Shawn Boquiren and Vince Crisp plus a Marcus Bast and-1 fueled the decisive run.
Crisp led the Wildcats with 14 points, Bast scored nine of his 12 in the fourth quarter and Raymond Whitley scored 11, including seven in the first. 6-foot-10 junior Alex Gklaros-Stavropoulos led the visiting Lancers with 11 points and 10 rebounds, scoring eight of his team’s 13 in the first half. Chris Verceles scored nine, all on second half 3-pointers.