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Crean Lutheran’s Jacob Majok sets a pick for Caden Jones as Cypress’s Ryan Gov defends Tuesday night. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano and Howard Lyon).
If Tuesday’s wild Crestview League boys basketball game between Cypress and Crean Lutheran is any indication, the rivalry between the two teams is alive and well.
The two teams, who have battled for supremacy in the Empire League before this year’s re-leaguing sending them into the super competitive Crestview League, played two overtimes, with Crean Lutheran capturing a 69-68 victory.
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Crean Lutheran (9-9, 2-1) moved ahead when Hunter Caplan banked in lay-up with 7.6 seconds remaining in the second OT to put the Saints ahead by one. Cypress (14-9, 0-3) called timeout but Crean Lutheran’s swarming defense, led by Caden Jones, was able to make a stop on a 3-point attempt.
Jacob Majok (16 points), Jones (15 points) and Caplan (13 points) led Crean Lutheran. Cypress got solid efforts from Ryan Gov (22 points) and King Birdsong (20 points).
“That’s what you live for as a player, games like that,” Caplan said. “‘The outcome is that much more rewarding, it’s that much sweeter. It was a must-win game, we had to win it, we talked about it in the locker-room before the game and we came out and executed.
“I’m happy, I’m proud of our team, we’re fighting adversity, we lost so many close games already throughout the season even before league and now, winning these close ones is really what matters. I feel like every day we’re getting better and we’re going to be at the best for when it matters most.”
Crean Lutheran Coach Nate Klitzing, who has seen his team lose a number of close games, was thrilled with the win.
“I’m just proud of our team’s resiliency,” Klitzing said. “We’ve had three (league) games, one point, all three, lost the first one at the buzzer and won the last two at the very end just like this. I’m just proud of our guys not quitting.
“We weren’t perfect at all, we had some mistakes that surely could have cost us the game and we continued to dig in and fight through adversity like we’ve done all year which has prepared us for it with the tough schedule we’ve had. We’ve continued to just grow and mature, again we are extremely young, we’re starting two sophomores and a freshman and two juniors. We’re learning as we go through these tough games.”
Coach Derek Mitchell’s Cypress team led 30-25 at halftime but Crean Lutheran battled back to tie it 41-41 going into the final stanza.
Crean Lutheran was victimized by five turnovers in a row in a stretch of the fourth quarter and Cypress took advantage, moving out to a 10-point lead at one point.
However, the Saints clawed back led by Jones, who had nine points in the fourth quarter.
Cypress was in position to win the game at the end of regulation, but missed two free throws following an intentional foul and turned the ball following the subsequent inbounds pass. Crean Lutheran did not score and the game went into overrtime.
Cypress was unable to convert a shot in the final seconds of the first overtime. Crean Lutheran was able to overcome free throw shooting woes and won despite missing five free throws in the second overtime.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com