Crean Lutheran closes in on another Empire League title with victory over Tustin

Freshman Kaiden Bailey led Crean Lutheran with 29 points. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Crean Lutheran High School’s boys basketball team inched closer to a third consecutive Empire League title Tuesday night, defeating Tustin 72-40 with a solid all-around effort at Tustin.

Crean Lutheran (16-6, 6-0) got a spectacular performance from freshman guard Kaiden Bailey, who scored 29 points and made five 3-pointers. Crean Lutheran sank 13 3-pointers in the game, extending the program’s win streak to 27 dating back to 2020.

Dylan Gomez had 15 points and Braeden Davidson added 13 for Crean Lutheran, which has a one-game lead over second place Cypress. Coach Derek Mitchell’s Centurions play at Crean Lutheran next Monday night.

“It’s something that can be a huge strength for is our shooting ability,” said Crean Lutheran Coach Nate Klitzing. “And when we get a couple guys that get hot, we’re a dangerous team. We weren’t hitting too many the first half but we settled in.

“I told the boys at half, ‘we need to stay positive and keep confident and those shots will start falling.’ And we moved the ball a little better. Overall, it was a great team win, I’m proud of our defense in the second half, we went to zone and kind of messed them up a little bit and we were boarding and when we’re able to rebound and get in transition, it allows them to not set up their defense, which is a tough defense.”

Eli Nyeazi, Josh Birket and Blake Kissinger had 10 points each for Tustin (16-8, 3-3).

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

The Tillers had a 12-11 lead after one quarter but Crean Lutheran outscored Tustin 11-5 in the second quarter to take a 22-17 halftime lead.

Crean Lutheran took it up a notch in the third quarter, outscoring Tustin 22-8 to take control.

“I think it was a good win, we played defense, we played hard and we came out here and moved the ball,” said Bailey, who also had five rebounds and three assists. “Shots weren’t falling that well in the first half but they picked up in the second and we put together some stops and ended up with the win.”

Crean Lutheran forced several turnovers off the full-court press in the first seven minutes of the third quarter during a 7-0 run.

“Coach said we had to speed them up because they were controlling the game so in order to control the game, we had to come out and do what we do so we came out with the press and sped them up,” Bailey said.

It was Crean Lutheran’s second win over Tustin. The Saints defeated the Tillers 52-45 in the first league match-up Tuesday, Jan. 10 at Crean Lutheran.

“Obviously we had absolutely no answer for Kaden Bailey,” said Tustin Coach Ringo Bossenmeyer. “He is a talented and versatile scorer who can score from so many different spots on the floor that he puts tremendous pressure on your defense.  And when the other talented players on the Crean (Lutheran) roster are shooting it like they did tonight, it makes for a very long evening.

“We will regroup, move forward and to borrow a baseball quote, ‘turn the page’ and look forward to the challenge of putting ourselves in the best position possible to secure a CIF playoff berth with four league games remaining.” 

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com