TEMECULA — When Rancho Christian’s big men got into foul trouble in the second half of Friday’s CIF Southern Section Division 1 boys basketball semifinal, Crean Lutheran stepped on the gas.
The top-seeded Saints had a 7-4 run to close out the third quarter, then outscored the Eagles 13-5 to open the fourth, punching their ticket to their first championship game since winning a 2021 crown with a 67-55 triumph over Rancho Christian.
The Saints (25-7) will duel Orange County rival JSerra for the title next week at a site and time to be determined. The Lions (23-12) outran Inglewood 103-91 in the other Division 1 semifinal Friday, snapping the Sentinels’ 16-game win streak.
Sharpshooter Hunter Caplan led all scorers with 25 points, including four 3-pointers and a perfect 6-for-6 effort from the foul line, as Crean Lutheran extended its win streak to seven games and halted Rancho Christian’s five-game string. Jacob Majok, a UC Riverside commit, added 16 points.
“I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Crean Lutheran coach Austin Loeb, whose squad has won 10 of its last 11 contests. “I thought we were extremely resilient. It was up and down, we had foul trouble, and one of the things we talked about was staying mentally tough and being able to adjust to any situation.”
The Eagles (21-10), the Division 2A champions in 2023, were seeking their fourth trip to the finals. They closed out the second quarter with an 8-3 run to take a 34-29 lead at halftime. Crean Lutheran regrouped and tightened up on defense, neutralizing Rancho Christian’s star guard Jeremiah Profit, who scored 14 points in the first two periods. Profit scored five points the rest of the way to finish with a team-high 19 points.
Tony Rutledge had 15 points for the Eagles, and Daniel Bol, a 6-foot-9 junior forward who was plagued by foul trouble the entire second half, contributed 10 points.
“They executed better, they wanted it a whole lot more, and we all have to be better as a whole,” Rancho Christian coach Jalen Lake said. “They outgritted us, and I feel like we missed our window and we didn’t capitalize.
“We controlled the game throughout the whole first half. But our bigs picked up three fouls apiece, and it played a little toll,” Lake said. “They executed better and did what they wanted to do. They did a great job taking us away from our game.”
Bol picked up his fourth foul with 2:32 to play in the third period and came off the floor. Thirty seconds later, the Eagles’ other big man, 6-foot-9 senior center Dave Mapey, picked up his fourth foul and took a seat.
The Saints smelled blood in the water.
“One of the things we talked about in the locker room was to come out swinging and take that momentum back, and I thought they did a heck of a job in that third quarter, getting those stops and translating our stops into big buckets,” Loeb said.
“I’m really proud of the togetherness and how hard we played, especially on the defensive end in the second half,” Loeb said. “Our effort in guarding No. 5 (Profit) and getting stops like we did, we were able to push the ball in transition, and that’s who we really are.”
Guard Nicholas Giarrusso, an Oaks Christian transfer, was a force on the glass at both ends of the floor, creating second-chance opportunities for the Saints while denying them for the Eagles.
“He gives incredible effort,” Loeb said. “He had some foul trouble in the first half and he had to sit for almost the whole second quarter. He doesn’t score a lot, but he’s getting us extra possessions, he’s getting deflections, he’s making the correct read. He’s our prototypical glue guy.”
Bol said he hopes to see the Saints again in the state playoffs. By reaching the semifinals, both schools qualified for the CIF State playoffs.
“We just need to play harder,” Bol said. “That is why we lost the game.”
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