Kaiden Bailey of Crean Lutheran gets ready to make a pass Sunday vs. Valencia. No. 13 is teammate Will Malual. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Crean Lutheran High School’s boys basketball team, competing in the toughest division of the inaugural California Live Tournament, wrapped up play Sunday with a 78-49 victory over Valencia of Valencia at Tustin.
The Saints, playing in the SoCAl Chevy bracket, one of 10 in the tournament, finished 2-2.
Sophomore Kaiden Bailey led Crean Lutheran with 18 points and five 3-pointers. The Saints had excellent scoring balance and also got contributions from Braeden Davidson, who scored 12 points on four 3-pointers and Jacob Majok and Dylan Gomez, who had 10 points each.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
The game remained close in the first half but Crean Lutheran held a 32-27 lead at halftime. The Saints turned it up a notch in the second half, eventually moving out to a 59-38 lead on a basket by Bailey with 6:52 left in the game.
“It was a great team win today,” said Crean Lutheran Coach Nate Klitzing. “They were hanging around, and it’s the final game of this tournament that’s been a really tough tournament and it’s tough to get up on a Sunday, Father’s Day, for those games …. but we did a really good job of playing together and sharing the ball more and making the right basketball play and finding the open man and keeping things more simple and that led to success, especially in the second half.”
Bailey led the way all weekend.
“He’s definitely our center piece guy who is now sliding the point guard position,” Klitzing said. “He’s just a playmaker, he makes plays. I’ve been encouraging him a lot to make the right basketball read and he did that all this tournament and in front of a lot of college coaches is what they want to see. He’s doing a great job.”
Klitzing was pleased with the rebounding of Will Malual and Majok.
Crean Lutheran opened the tournament losing to defending state champion Harvard Westlake 80-53 on Friday.
“We were on dead period and first game out, it’s the state open champs,” Klitzing said. “We played them tough in the first half and they pulled away in the second half. But I’m proud of the way we came out and competed and fought. We’re still a young team and we’re learning.”
Crean Lutheran then defeated defending CIF San Diego Section champion St. Augustine 74-66 before losing to De LaSalle 41-38 on Saturday.
“It’s been great for us for our growth as a group to play at that high level,” Klitzing said.
The Saints sophomore guard Bailey, who already has caught the eyes of college coaches, was pleased with Sunday’s effort too.
“It was a great team win, especially for summer basketball, we’re just trying to get used to playing with each other, what really changed the game for us was our defense in the second half, it led to transition buckets and easy lay-ups,” Bailey said.
“This was a great thing, there were a lot of coaches and a lot of exposure.”
For final scores from Sunday of the 10 divisions, click here:
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—-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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