With El Camino senior forward Michael Smith on the bench because of foul trouble, nobody was able to stop Serra standout Henry Caruso. As a result, Caruso went off for 30 points to help the Padres to a 74-66 win over the Colts in a CCS Open Division quarterfinal Friday night at Santa Clara High. The victory advances Serra (24-4) to the semifinals against Sacred Heart Cathedral next Wednesday night at Independence High. El Camino takes on Piedmont Hills in a consolation game Tuesday night.
“We came out flat,” said Serra head coach Chuck Rapp. “We had a week off, and playing at 5:30 is different. But that’s no excuse. We had one get out of jail card, and this was it.”
In the first half, the Colts came out as the clear winners. Smith hit a 3-pointer and two layups, as well as an and-1, as part of an El Camino 14-3 streak in the last three minutes of the second quarter. The half ended with El Camino up, 37-30.
“Smith is a very skilled player,” said Rapp. “He’s a hard cover. They’re hard to guard, and they force a lot of help and rotation defense. I give him a lot of credit.”
However, the turning point came in the third quarter. Smith, who scored 27 points total, drew his third foul, and El Camino head coach Archie Junio was forced to put him on the bench. This left some defensive mismatches, and Caruso was able to take full advantage down low.
“Smith had foul problems, and we had to take him out of the game,” said Junio. “That changed our whole strategy. We tried our best out there with our size, but the mismatches allowed Caruso to get some easy buckets.”
Even when Junio put Smith back in the game at the start of the fourth quarter, Serra’s strategy was to force him to foul. That strategy worked, as Caruso drew a foul from Smith within the first minute of the quarter, and Smith fouled out.
“Once he got his third foul, we went inside to Henry to try to get him his fourth foul,” said Rapp. “Once he got his fourth foul, we kept going inside, and we were able to get some mismatches.”
With no one left to stop him, the 6-foot-4 Caruso, who is headed to Princeton next year, was able to keep making shots from inside the key. He scored 13 points in the fourth quarter, as Serra was able to take the victory. As the Colts were forced to intentionally foul in order to stop the clock, the Padres kept racking up points by hitting their foul shots.
Although Caruso was able to step up, Serra’s star center, Matt Jajeh, was on the bench for the majority of the game. After missing the WCAL finals game in its entirety, Jajeh got on the court, but was only able to make two free throws and score a fastbreak layup to tie the game in the third quarter.
“He’s still recovering from his leg injury,” said Rapp. “He obviously wasn’t at his best, but hopefully, we’ll get to see him on the court more.”
Offensively, the Colts hit 21 of their attempted 56 field goals, while the Padres got better looks and were able to make 19 of their attempted 44 field goals. Serra converted 27 of 33 free throws, while El Camino went 16 of 20.
Defensively, the Colts stole the ball eight times and also recorded three blocks. Serra had four steals and had one block.
“Defensively, we made it too easy for them in the first half,” said Rapp. “Second half, we got better. We were able to close the lanes. We helped whoever needed it, we rotated over, and we gave a lot of help on Smith and White. They had a lot of shots, but we made sure they didn’t have any good looks.”
