SAN DIEGO PREP BASKETBALL : Dream Comes True for Serra With 67-48 Playoff Win

Just call Serra High School’s boys’ basketball team the darlings of this year’s San Diego Section 3-A playoffs. No decent postseason basketball tournament could live without one.

The No. 4-ranked Conquistadors, coming off the first City Eastern League championship in the school’s 10-year history, continued their fairy tale season by beating Mount Carmel, 67-48, Tuesday night at Serra to advance to Friday night’s 3-A semifinals.

“This is what we’ve all been dreaming about since summer,” said forward Deven Moran, one of four senior starters on the team. “We’ve been overmatched the last few years, but we’ve stuck together. We’re all hoping that at last our time has come.”

Serra (22-3) started its surprising rise last week. Never mind that the Conquistadors had played well most of the season and had wrapped up second place in league. Not many thought they could handle defending 3-A runner-up Morse. But, without a starter taller than 6-foot 4-inches, Serra beat the Tigers twice to win the league title.

The Conquistadors continued their rise Tuesday. In front of a large and vocal crowd, they pulled away in the second half behind senior guards Anthony Moore (24 points) and Steve Smith (18).

But the guards weren’t alone Tuesday.

Center Mike Karp did a solid job on the boards to help negate Mount Carmel’s imposing height advantage.

Midway through the third quarter, Karp outmuscled three Sundevils for a rebound and sent an outlet pass for Smith. The speedy forward drove the length of the floor and threw in a layup to give Serra its biggest lead of the game to that point, 46-34, with 2:20 remaining.

The next time down, Van Scyoc got free for his first shot of the game. He sunk it from 15 feet and Serra led by 14.

Four Conquistadors were in double figures against the Sundevils. Karp scored 11 and Moran had 10.

“This is all great,” Serra Coach Tom Williams said. “Just look at our student body. They love it. And our players just hung in there and played their game despite all of it.”

Mount Carmel took an early 12-4 lead by working the ball inside. But Moore (16 points in the first half) started hitting from the outside and soon the Conquistadors were back in control. After pulling ahead 30-28 at the half, Serra pulled steadily away.

Afterward, some of the fans sent a message to the county’s No. 1-ranked team.

“We want Poway. We want Poway,” they chanted.

Provided the Titans return the 3-A final as expected, Serra’s little darlings are only a game away.