Playing on their home court Friday night, the Serra Padres held on late to beat the Sacred Heart Cathedral fighting Irish, 71-60, in the WCAL semi-finals.
The Padres (23-3, 14-2 WCAL) started off hot with senior forward Henry Caruso’s opening game dunk followed by junior guard Sean Watkins’ back-to-back three pointers.
Caruso, who led the Padres with 30 points, said “Sean hit big shots for us; he was great from beyond the arc tonight.”
The Padres jumped out to a 21-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. It was more of the same for the Padres in the second quarter as they ended the half up 39-20.
Caruso had 19 points in the half, one point shy of the entire Sacred Heart squad.
With Sacred Heart Cathedral (16-10, 9-7 WCAL) shooting only 26 percent from the field in the first half, the Padres looked to really open it up in the second half. However, the Fighting Irish did not go down without a tussle.
Sacred Heart Cathedral rebounded with a 25-point third quarter while the Irish’s defense held the Padres to 15 points in the quarter.
The momentum continued to shift towards SHC through much of the fourth quarter as the Irish found themselves trailing by only four points with 3:20 remaining. The Padres finished strong, however, just as they started.
With just over a minute left, Princeton-bound Caruso let the shot clock tick down before advancing towards the basket. Caruso drove past a defender to within a few feet of the basket when he surprised the Irish defense by passing the ball out to Watkins in the deep corner. Watkins sealed the game with a clutch 3-pointer.
Watkins, who had 11 points, described the play: “During the timeout coach told me I was getting the ball, and he told me to take the shot.”
The play ended the Irish's furious comeback and advanced the Padres to the WCAL tournament championship game.
“That was a huge basket in the game, because it was a four-point game and Watkins sealed it," Serra coach Chuck Rapp said. "It definitely was a tale of two halves. We played well in the first half, spreading the ball around and overall playing well. In the second half, we were playing not to lose.”
Serra plays Archbishop Mitty at Foothill College Saturday night.
“It’s the game everyone wants to see," Caruso said. "It will be a great game and I think we have the momentum going in.”
