PHOTOS: Crean Lutheran edges La Habra in another Crestview League thriller

Crean Lutheran’s Jordan Ceballos goes past La Habra defenders for a basket Friday night. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano).

With the high school boys basketball regular season winding down each game in the highly competitive Crestview League has taken on greater importance as the teams make their final push for the CIF playoffs. 

Friday night’s game at Crean Lutheran between the Saints and La Habra had a familiar playoff atmosphere to it and Crean Lutheran was able to pull it out in the final seconds and come away with a 57-53 victory to take over sole possession of first place.

Jordan Ceballos, Hunter Caplan and Jacob Majok all scored in double figures to lead the Saints (12-10, 4-1) to their sixth win in their last seven games. Caplan’s three free throws in the final 16 seconds sealed the win for Crean Lutheran, avenging a 56-55 first round loss to La Habra at the buzzer.

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Leading 54-52 with 16 seconds remaining, Caplan, a sophomore guard, was fouled and went to the line and made one of two free throws.

Moments later, La Habra turned the ball over with three seconds to play. Again, Caplan was fouled and went to the line and sank both free throws to give the Saints a crucial league win.

“I was mad that I missed the first free-throw,” said Caplan, who scored 14 points and made three 3-pointers. “I knew when I went to the line the next free throws were going in. All of the work that I put in behind closed doors is paying off. Ever since these guys (La Habra) beat us at the buzzer earlier this season, we’ve had this game on the calendar circled.”

Caplan’s free throws in the final seconds broke a three-minute scoring drought by Crean Lutheran. Caden Jones’ basket at the 3:33 mark of the final quarter gave the Saints a 54-48 lead.

However, Crean Lutheran failed to score on its next six possessions and turned the ball over three times. In the meantime, the Highlanders got a 3-point bucket by Jaedon Anderson and a basket by Baylor Wilks to cut the lead to 54-53 with 55 seconds to play and set the stage for a dramatic finish.

“You can’t turn the ball over and make as many miscues as we did and expect to win,” said La Habra Coach Aaron Riekenberg. “We have to learn from this and continue to get better.”

Anderson sided with his coach.

“We made some mistakes and had turnovers, and my shot wasn’t dropping in the second half,” said Anderson, who scored five of his game-high 19 points in the second half. “We have to work on our defense and work together better as a team.”

Majok had a huge game for the Saints at both ends of the floor, especially after teammate Will Malual got into foul trouble and was forced to sit out a good deal of the second half.

“The key was our focus tonight,” said Majok, who scored 16 points. “In the first half we were sloppy, but in the second half, especially in the final four minutes, we played aggressive defense and forced La Habra into committing several turnovers. This game was very similar to the game we played against them at La Habra. I felt like I was getting to my spots and able to get rebounds, block a few shots and get good looks at the basket.”

After leading 34-32 at the break, Crean Lutheran went on an 8-2 run late in the third quarter, sparked by Majok and Ceballos five free throws and Capian’s 3-pointer, as the Saints built a 49-43 lead after three quarters.

“It was definitely our defense that made the difference tonight,” said Ceballos who scored 15 points and played a strong defensive role as well. 

Crean Lutheran Coach Nate Klitzing was pleased with the victory and praised Majok.

“We didn’t play a good first quarter; we were dribbling the ball too much and making mistakes, but after that we played well,” Klitzing added. “Jacob (Majok) was unbelievable for us. He has improved so much as a basketball player. He goes out there every night and gets us a double double.”

La Habra (18-8, 2-4) came out in a fast pace and led 21-16 after the first quarter. Acen Jimenez also scored 17 points for the Highlanders, who have dropped their last four games.