Serra earns second WCAL win

Tuesday, Serra got another opportunity to get off the schneid when the Padres hosted Sacred Heart Cathedral — which came into the game with only two wins in WCAL play.

The Padres got off to a strong start, scoring 21 first-quarter points. But it was the way they closed in the fourth quarter that led them to their second league win of the year, 65-56.

“Good win. We needed that,” said Serra head coach Chuck Rapp. “We were leaking oil. It was just a relief. The team was getting tight.”

Parker McDonald led a solid Serra team effort, finishing with 18 points. Colin McCarthy and Henry James each added 14 points apiece.

“We played everybody,” Rapp said. “Thirteen strong — that’s our motto.”

But it wasn’t just the scoring. While SHC stayed in the game thanks to 11 offensive rebounds, Serra (2-5 WCAL, 10-7 overall) outrebounded the Irish overall, 35-27.

“That was big,” Rapp said.

SHC (2-5, 11-6) got a game-high 19 points from Emmett Neal Jr., 12 coming in the second half. Bryce Monroe scored 16, 12 of which came in the first quarter. Gary Hudson finished with 15 for the Irish.

SHC can thank its 3-point shooting for keeping the Irish in the game. They connected on 44 percent (11 for 25), but were just 20 for 61 from the field overall.

Serra got a pair of 3s from James, as the Padres made only three on the night. But Serra shot the ball at a much higher clip, knocking down 24 of 47, good for 51 percent shooting. The Padres were also 14 for 18 from the line — including six in a row from McCarthy in the final minute.

Serra led 47-44 going into the fourth quarter, with James converting a layup and McCarthy using a spin move off the bounce for a quick four points and a 51-44 lead. Paul Besse then muscled in a layup and hit one of two free throws and Serra was up 54-45 with 5:40 to play.

But Hudson would drain a 3 and Neal Jr. scored on a putback of his own miss and the Irish were down six, 56-50, with 3:43 left.

Serra’s lead was still six, 59-53, after Hudson nailed his fourth 3-pointer of the night, and the Irish cut it to five, 61-56, on a Neal Jr. 3.

But McCarthy hit four free throws in a row over the final 41 seconds to hold off SHC.

Serra set the tone early. After SHC’s Monroe knocked down a 3 to open the scoring, the Padres responded with nine unanswered points. McCarthy converted a layup for Serra’s first basket, which was followed by a 3 from James, a turnaround jumper off the rebound by Denzel McCollum and a bucket from Besse.

The Padres pushed their lead to 17-8 on a McDonald slash to the basket that capped his own personal 8-0 run.

But back-to-back 3-pointers from Hudson and Monroe, coupled with a long Monroe jumper, closed the Irish’s deficit to 21-16 after the first quarter.

The Padres would maintain their lead through the first five-plus minutes of the second period, but the Irish used a 8-0 run to take a 32-30 lead — their first since the opening seconds of the game. Back-to-back 3s tied it at 30-all for SHC and a Neal Jr. bucket off the drive gave the Irish the lead with 2:16 left in the first half.

But a pair of free throws from both McCarthy and Dillon Macaraig, along with a last-second layup from Macaraig off the dribble, gave Serra a 36-32 lead at the break.

The Irish dominated the offensive glass in the third quarter, pulling down five rebounds off their own missed shots. It enabled them to take just their third lead of the game when Neal Jr. knocked down a pull-up jumper for a 41-40 SHC lead with 2:45 left in the quarter.

But the Padres ended the period on a 7-4 run — including a dunk and a 3 from McDonald — to hold a 47-44 advantage after three quarters of play.

“We had a couple of good wins in preseason. But we got into league and got sideways,” Rapp said of his team’s slide. “It’s called the ‘WCAL washing machine.’ You get a couple of losses and you don’t know which end is up.”