4 In front of a lively sellout crowd the Serra Padres (13-3, 4-2 WCAL) defeated archrival St. Ignatius, 66-59, in the Jungle Game Wednesday night in San Mateo. Princeton-bound forward Henry Caruso led the Padres with 23 points, accompanied by Jacqui Biggins, who dropped 11 points.
“Its always great to beat your rival, especially at home,” said Serra coach Chuck Rapp.
The Padres dominated the St. Ignatius (12-4, 3-3) on offense and defense as they jumped to an early 15-7 lead in the first quarter. They rode the momentum with threes from Sean Watkins and Biggins to take commanding 28-17 lead with two minutes to go in the first half.
The Padres continued to outplay the Wildcats and had a comfortable 28-19 lead at the half.
“We controlled the game early, we carried the momentum in the first half to a big lead,” said Rapp.
Coming off halftime, the Wildcats made things interesting. Led by Trevor Dunbar and Julian Marcu, who both finished the game with 18 points, St. Ignatius came out firing in the third quarter to make it 32-30, forcing Rapp and the Padres to call a timeout.
This was the closest the Wildcats would get the entire game, as the Padres expanded their lead by forcing turnovers and making free throws. At the end of three quarters, Serra led, 46-38. SI, down by eight, still had hope in getting back into the game and taking the lead in the fourth quarter.
However, this did not turn out to be the case. Down the stretch Serra hit clutch threes and capitalized on its possessions by getting significant rebounds. Matt Jajeh, who finished the game with 14 rebounds, was an integral part of the Serra offense in the fourth quarter.
“We controlled the boards,” said Caruso. "It is important to get those rebounds because they give you more opportunity to score.”
SI never got completely back into the game in the fourth quarter as Serra ground out the win, 66-59. Coming off the lost tough loss to Mitty on the road last week, this game was huge for the Padres.
“This game is important because it’s a big confidence booster moving forward," Rapp said. "We feel like we can beat anybody."
The Padres will play on the road at Valley Christian on Saturday, as the Wildcats well face Bellarmine at home this Friday.
These two teams will face each other again on February 7, this time at SI in Wildcat Territory.
