CIF ROUNDUP

Bishop Montgomery 56, Servite 54--Senior guard Darrell Daniel, shaking off the flu, scored seven of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to help the Knights rally for an Angelus League victory at home and strengthen their hold on second place.

Bishop Montgomery trailed by its largest deficit, 46-40, a minute into the fourth quarter before reeling off eight unanswered points, capped by a Daniel three-pointer, to go ahead with 4:50 remaining.

Servite regained the lead, 52-50, with 3:43 left on a basket by guard Jamie Rosenkranz, but the Friars went cold from the floor in the waning minutes and didn’t score again until forward Steve Marusich beat the buzzer with a follow shot.

“Our guys sucked it up down the stretch,” Bishop Montgomery Coach Doug Mitchell said. “We got a lot more intense on defense. We caused some turnovers, and that got us back in it.”

While Servite was scoreless for most of the last four minutes, the Knights opened a lead by making six of 10 free-throw attempts. Daniel’s foul shot with eight seconds left made it 56-52 and iced the game.

“He’s a gamer,” Mitchell said of his leading scorer. “He didn’t practice (this week) because he was sick. I didn’t think he would play this well.”

Forward Pete Tolliver added 12 points for Bishop Montgomery and, along with forward Joe Magyar, did a good job of battling the taller Friars on the boards.

Servite was led by 6-4 Adam Anderson with 15 points and 6-7 Marusich with 14. Rosenkranz added 11 but scored only two in the second half against tenacious pressure by guard Kirk Jones.

Bishop Montgomery (13-5 overall) improved to 4-2 in league play, good for second place behind unbeaten Mater Dei. The Knights visit Mater Dei at 7:30 Friday night.