ANAHEIM – Servite’s basketball team might be difficult to beat this season in Servite’s gym.
With their large and loud student section in attendance in their warm gym, the Friars beat Cypress 81-78 in a nonleague game Tuesday at Servite High.
Servite, No. 14 in this week’s Orange County boys basketball rankings, is 7-1. No. 9 Cypress is 4-2.
Friars senior forward Jake Schutt scored a game-high 28 points including four 3-point baskets. Freshman guard Saiger Smith scored 18 points, 15 of them in the second half. Another Servite freshman, Tariq Johnson scored 13 points.
Cypress senior guard Gavin Kroll scored 20 points with three 3-pointers. Centurions senior guards Ethan Mai and Ryan Gov scored 18 and 17 points, respectively. Mai made four 3-point shots.
The Centurions had a 71-60 lead in the fourth quarter. Servite outscored them 21-7 from there, with Schutt making two 3s and junior forward Hugh Hannan scoring nine points during that run.
In the game’s final 30 seconds, Hannan scored inside, Kroll was fouled on a 3-point miss and made the resulting three free throws and, with 1.2 seconds to go, Hannan made two free throws to make it 81-78.
After Hannan’s second free throw, Cypress quickly got the ball to Gov whose shot from just inside the half-court stripe was straight but just short, bouncing off of the front of the rim as time expired.
Schutt is confident there are more such wins over high-quality opponents to come.
“When we had our tipoff dinner,” Schutt said, “I told the alumni and everyone that popped out that we’re going to surprise some people.”
It was the home game debut of Servite’s new basketball coach, Matt Kanne who is a Servite alum. The gym was packed, including Servite’s “The Asylum” student section that filled ¼ of the venue’s seating.
“That’s what we’re trying to bring back,” Kanne said. “Just trying get the students back out and passionately getting after it.”
Servite fell behind by a large margin early. Cypress rapidly built a 9-1 lead and was up 22-11 going into the second quarter. Servite made a 12-2 run to start the second quarter and trailed Cypress 35-34 at halftime.
Cypress was the hot team in the third quarter and again went ahead by double digits, 51-40. The Centurions took a 61-55 advantage into the fourth quarter and had another 11-point lead in that fourth quarter before Servite made its move.
“We were down double digits three different times,” Kanne said. “We just compete, and that’s what we’re building this program on.”