HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL : Mira Mesa Squashes Serra Rally

One pass went out the door of the gym.

Another banged high off the wall.

Then Serra players began to look puzzled, and hold their hands apart, and shake their heads, and look in the direction of their coach as if to say: “What the heck is going on?”

All the while, Mira Mesa stuck together. And together, the host Marauders (13-9, 4-2) snapped Serra’s 11-game winning streak with a 61-58 City Eastern League victory on Tuesday afternoon. Afterward, they celebrated at mid-court in a fashion fit for a playoff victory or maybe a championship.

Maybe they felt sixth-ranked Serra (13-5, 5-1) didn’t think them a worthy opponent and was overlooking them.

“Yeah,” said Mira Mesa’s Dave Butler. “I think they did a lot. I think they already had us chalked up as a victory.”

And why shouldn’t they? Mira Mesa folded like a bad poker player in the last meeting, when Serra came back from a 10-point halftime deficit and went on to win by 10. This time, Serra led 35-23 at halftime, and 49-42 early in the fourth quarter.

But the Conquistadors got sloppy as the end of the game approached. Sloppy with their ball handling, and sloppy with their mouths.

Trailing 51-46, Mira Mesa’s Mike Phillips hit a layup. The whistle blew, and Serra’s Antwann Harris was called for a foul. Harris made a noisy protest to the referee, and the referee added to the noise with another blow of his whistle: technical.

So Phillips went to the line and connected on three free throws to make it 51-49 with 6:40 to play. With that, the Marauders’ confidence swelled. They tied it 32 seconds later on a driving layup by Ryan Cunningham, took a 55-53 lead on a Butler bucket and held off a late Serra comeback attempt after Justin Wible hit a three-pointer to make it 60-58.

It wasn’t a great afternoon for Serra Coach Tom Williams.

“Well, the thing is we decided we had the ball game won,” he said. “And we decided we didn’t have to use team play and that killed us. . . . This is one of the worst games we’ve played since Christmas.”

And this was probably the most gifts they’ve given since Christmas, too. Credit Mira Mesa with being smart enough to take advantage of each Conquistador mistake and protect its lead in the final minutes.

Serra wasn’t exactly cordial in defeat.

“They didn’t shake our hands,” said Mira Mesa’s Brendan Hause, who led all scorers with 20 points. “But I guess that’s just their way of taking the loss.”