SAN MATEO — After concluding the regular season and CCS playoffs on a four-game losing streak, Serra can fully appreciate being able to see new teams that aren’t used to the Padres' defensive pressure.
On Saturday, they turned in one of their most clinical performances of the season, jumping out to a 19-2 lead and beating Rocklin 70-46 to advance to the CIF Division II Northern California Championship.
“We wanted to come out with our shock and awe defense and just slam them right from the start,” head coach Chuck Rapp said. “It’s something they’re not used to.”
Sure enough, Serra slammed the 13th-seeded Thunder, forcing Rocklin to play catch-up the entire rest of the way. When the visitors did make things interesting, the Padres were able to use secondary scoring to pull away, including a career-high 14 points from Dominic Bartlewski. Evan Terry scored off the glass for Rocklin (27-6) to cut the lead to 47-37 at the start of the fourth quarter, but Bartlewski answered with a baseline drive and elbow jumper to kickstart a 17-2 run to turn the game into a rout.
“We started moving the ball and teammates played unselfishly,” Bartlewski said. “I got open thanks to them.”
While WCAL defenses did a tremendous job stopping the Padres’ secondary scoring, Serra’s first three opponents in the state tournament have gotten preoccupied with Parker McDonald and Cade Rees, leaving players like Bartlewski, Antonio Abeyta and Cooper Fitz to tilt the game. Abeyta and Fitz combined for all eight points in a third quarter where the ninth-seeded Padres were slowed offensively, with two threes from Abeyta, much like he did in Tuesday’s first-round win at St. Patrick-St. Vincent. Fitz had a key putback after Rocklin closed to 10 for the first time since the opening quarter.
“It’s a different mindset now, and we’re just giving it our all,” Fitz said.
McDonald led Serra (20-9) with 19 points, Rees scored eight and Patrick Simon hit a pair of early threes off the bench.
Terry led the Thunder with 19 and Darrius Kendall added 13, but getting off to a slow start, committing 20 turnovers and allowing 18 offensive rebounds led to the end of Rocklin’s season.
“I think we were a little bit emotionally spent with our third long trip of the week,” head coach Steve Taylor said. “We didn’t really adapt well to this environment, and the type of half-court pressure they put on was as good as any we had seen.”
Having won at Clovis North on Tuesday and Pleasant Valley Thursday, it was a grueling travel schedule for the Thunder, and by the time they had found their land legs, they were in a double-digit hole, trailing by as much as 20 in the opening minutes of the second quarter.
“They didn’t seem too ready for the defensive pressure in the first half,” McDonald said.
Though Rocklin did pull off a late seven-point comeback on Thursday in Chico, the Thunder were never able to get that next play needed to turn a wave of good play into a significant run.
“Our goal was to get it to single-digits and play from there, and we just never could,” Taylor said.
