Crean Lutheran players and coaches celebrate after the Saints won the program’s third Empire League title in a row. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano).
Crean Lutheran High School’s boys basketball team clinched its third Empire League title in a row Monday night, but had to overcome a double digit lead against a tough Cypress team to do it.
Crean Lutheran battled back and took a one-point lead with seven seconds left on a 3-pointer by freshman Kaiden Bailey with seven seconds left, then held off one last comeback bid by Cypress to win the thriller 69-68 at Crean Lutheran. It marked the program’s 29th consecutive league win in a row dating back to 2020.
Cypress (14-12, 6-2) needed to win Monday in order to keep its hopes of a league title alive. Both Crean Lutheran and Cypress have two league games left and Crean Lutheran has a two-game lead after its second win over Cypress this season.
Kaiden Bailey was the game’s top scorer with 32 points and also had seven rebounds. Patrick Miranda had 15 points and Kenneth Bailey had 14 points, five rebounds and three assists for the Saints (19-7, 8-0).
“Heart,” said Crean Lutheran Coach Nate Klitzing explaining the team’s comeback. “We’ve been talking about that the whole day, toughness, gritiness, we’re a team that has come a long ways in that area in our toughness and mental preparation. I’m just so proud of the way these guys fought. They had us down and out. We did everything we could to scrap and fight back in that game.”
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
The last minute was wild.
Miranda sank a 3-pointer for the Saints to cut the lead to 68-66 with 34 seconds left.
Following a timeout, Braeden Davidson forced a turnover on the inbounds pass, passing it to Miranda, who bobbled the ball, then passed to Kaiden Bailey for the eventual game-winning three-pointer in the corner.
After Miranda got the ball, Bailey said he yelled out, ‘Pat, right here.’ He threw it back to me and I had a three and I had confidence in myself to shoot it so I shot it and it went in. I was so excited, it was a fun experience.
“I’m just happy I could come out represesenting the school well. We have a great team and we play well together.”
Crean Lutheran forced a turnover on Cypress final possession to secure the win and the Saints students celebrated on the court.
Cypress gave Crean Lutheran all it could handle down to the final seconds with a great effort. The Centurions were led by 6-5 junior Michael Wright, who had 28 points and 10 rebounds. Kason White, a 6-6 senior, had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Jonas Hanson nine points, all of 3-pointers in the final quarter.
“Bailey can get buckets,” said Cypress Coach Derek Mitchell. “We had a lot of difficulty trying to stop him in the second half. Our guys battled and gave their hearts. I put some guys in a bad position trying to overthink things. This loss is on me. We were up five with 40 seconds.
“We learn and move on, we have senior night tomorrow and Tustin on Thursday. No time to feel sorry for ourselves. It was a great high school game. A lot big shots being made, it was fun. I’m sorry we came out on the losing end.”
Cypress led 32-30 at halftime and led 43-37 with 5:07 left in the third quarter. Hanson helped Cypress move out to a 68-60 lead on a 3-pointer with about a minute remaining before the Saints rallied.
Cypress will finish either second or third in league and will likely advance to the CIF playoffs next week.
For video highlights to go the OC Sports Zone Twitter page.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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