“The Jungle Game” — Serra’s annual home basketball matchup against St. Ignatius — got it’s name because of the sheer bedlam Padres’ fans made the atmosphere in the Morton Family Gymnasium.
Wednesday’s edition of “The Jungle Game,” however, may go down as Serra’s greatest win in decades the game has been played.
Down 20 at halftime, the Padres used a 22-point third quarter to get back in the game and then did just enough in the fourth quarter to pull out an improbable 48-44 victory.
How big a win was it?
“That stands out as the best Jungle win in my 18 years,” said Serra head coach Chuck Rapp. “That’s one to remember.”
The game will be remember as the one where Serra’s Parker McDonald put the team on his back for three quarters and then as he ran out of gas in the fourth, the rest of his teammates finally stepped up.
Serra’s Cade Rees scored all seven of his points in the final period; Ryan Wilson scored off the fastbreak, nearly rushing past the basket and awkwardly hitting a layup, while Dominic Bartlewski and Cooper Fitz combined to connect on 2 of 4 free throws.
“Seeing my teammates find their confidence … it was great to see,” said Parker, a 6-4 senior guard.
But with the game hanging in the balance, it was McDonald who iced the win. He hit 1 of 2 free throws with 1:38 left to give the Padres a 45-43 lead and then all but iced the game with a 3-pointer with 19 seconds to play that gave Serra an insurmountable 48-43 advantage.
McDonald would finish with a game-high 22 points.
“Parker did everything but sell popcorn and sweep the floor. He was unbelievable,” Rapp said. “Parker, of course, stood out … but it was a total team victory.”
The Padres’ second half was a far cry from their first two quarters as they could not seem to buy a basket on the east end of the court as they managed only 11 first-half points while shooting 4 for 22 from the floor and going 3 for 12 from the free-throw line.
“Nothing was falling in the first half,” McDonald said.
Nothing was falling for Serra. St. Ignatius, shooting to the west-end hoop, seemed to have no difficulty in scoring. The Wildcats opened with a 19-point first quarter, connecting on 6 of 11 shots, while Serra made just two buckets in the opening eight minutes.
McDonald, who was 0 for 6 from the line in the first half, knocked down a pull-up jumper to close to 6-4 before St. Ignatius went on a 13-0 run to end the quarter. Neal Begovich opened the spurt with a pair of free throws, followed by a coast-to-coast layup from Wrenn Robinson. Those two then connected on back-to-back 3-pointers and Robinson finished the quarter with a three-point play.
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The Wildcats came back to earth a bit in the second quarter, but still outscored the Padres to lead 31-11 at the break.
At halftime, Rapp talked to the team about making history.
“We’re all going to be famous when it’s over,” Rapp said he told the team at halftime.
With the teams switching ends of the floor for the second half, it was Serra that found the range on the west-end bucket, while the east side basket continued to deny — It was Serra in the first half and St. Ignatius in the second. The Wildcats shot 5 for 22 from the floor over the final two periods, after shooting 50 percent (11 for 22) in the first two quarters.
“There was a lid on that (east end) basket,” Rapp said. “I told the guys we were going to be shooting (in the second half) on the open basket.”
The third quarter is where the momentum turned. The Padres turned its defensive intensity up a couple of notches and their defense fueled their offense.
Serra came up with seven steals in the third and when McDonald opened the second half by hitting his first two free throws of the night, it seemed to open up the flood gates as McDonald scored 14 of his 22 points in the third frame.
It was a pair of Fitz free throws that really started the comeback for the Padres, as it ignited a 11-0 run. The Serra fans nearly blew the roof off the place when McDonald threw down a fastbreak dunk to cut the deficit to 11, 35-24. The Wildcats’ lead was only five, 38-33, following a pair of McDonald free throws with 1:06 left in the quarter. He went to the line one more time in the period, missing the front end of a 1-and-1.
But Bartlewski grabbed the offense rebound and converted a layup to cut the Padres’ deficit to just three points, 38-35, going into the final quarter.
“It was a tale of two halves,” Rapp said.
McDonald was the only Padre to score in double figures. St. Ignatius (4-6 WCAL, 8-12 overall) was led by Robinson, who finished with 12 points — all in the first half. Kourosh Kahn-Adle added 10 for the Wildcats.
The win was big for the Padres in more ways than one. Sure, it gave them one of their biggest victories — ever — against their biggest basketball rival. But it also kept the Padres in the hunt for the West Catholic Athletic League championship. Coming into the game, Serra (7-3, 14-5) was one game behind both Riordan and Mitty atop the WCAL standings.
“This (Jungle) game is the epicenter for Padre Nation. It’s a lot to ask of a 17 year-old kid,” Rapp said. “But we still have championship aspirations.”
Added McDonald: “I know this group of guys. I knew we could come back. It wasn’t if we could, but if we wanted (to come back).”
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