ANAHEIM — The Crean Lutheran boys basketball team has shown the ability to combine defensive muscle and offensive firepower on multiple consecutive possessions.
As a result, the Saints have broken open close games in one short burst.
That dominance on both ends of the court enabled the Saints to pull away from Canyon in the fourth quarter and defeat the Comanches, 60-47, in a Crestview League game Friday at Canyon High School.
With La Habra’s 60-57 victory over Cypress on Friday, the Saints (19-6, 5-1) and Highlanders are tied for first place with two league games remaining.
The Saints, who are ranked No. 2 in Orange County, and the No. 7 Highlanders face off Tuesday at Crean Lutheran with the winner clinching at least a share of first place.
Crean Lutheran then closes out the regular season against Foothill on Friday, Jan. 30.
No. 8 Canyon (15-10, 2-3) has league games remaining against Foothill, Cypress and La Habra.
“I’ve told them, we control our own fate,” Crean Lutheran coach Austin Loeb said. “It is a nice place to be sitting right now with two games left. And you want to play your best basketball near the end of the league and the end of the season going into playoffs.”
After leading by a point at the half, the Saints built the lead to 11 points midway through the third quarter.
The Comanches hit 3-pointers on three consecutive possessions to get within five points heading into the fourth.
Crean Lutheran then went on 14-1 run in the fourth to create enough separation to coast in the final three minutes.
Hunter Caplan led the Saints with 17 points, including five 3-pointers. Caplan hit three shots from 3-point distance in the third quarter.
“The first quarter was a little rough for me,” Caplan said. “I wasn’t shooting it as well as I wanted to, and it’s been like that for the last couple games. So I was a little in my head, but my teammates … They all came and talked to me and they’re just giving me confidence and when you are going through something like that your teammates come in and get your back and It’s just, that’s just what happens.”
Canyon’s Chadrack Mpoyi, who had one point heading into the third quarter, scored 10 in the quarter and finished with 13 points.
Canyon’s Jonah Kim lead all players with 21 points, including five 3-pointers.
The Saints’ offensive runs are created at the defensive end, Loeb said.
“We talk about it all the time, trying to get three defensive stops in a row,” Loeb said. “That fuels our offense. It gets teams frustrated. They’ve gone on some big fourth-quarter runs so I think it’s part of our maturity process.”
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