SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA PREP BASKETBALL REGIONALS : Servite Gets Defensive at Right Time : Division III: Friars forced to play run-and-gun game, then hold on to defeat Tulare Western, 69-66.

For all the run-and-gun notions Servite High School’s basketball team had Tuesday night, the one thing it still came down to was defense. And the Friars played just enough of it to survive.

Trapped in an unfamiliar style--post 1960s--the Friars’ hopes of a second consecutive state championship nearly came to an end. They held on, thanks to the quick hands of Adam Anderson, for a 69-66 victory over Tulare Western in the first round of the Southern California Regional Division III playoffs at Servite.

Servite will need to return to more stoic ways Thursday when it plays host to Estancia in the regional semifinals.

After the Friars squandered a 10-point second-half lead Tuesday, it was left to Anderson to preserve the victory by picking the pocket of Western’s Andre Galston.

The Mustangs (15-13) were down, 58-51, with 6 minutes 35 seconds left, but the Friars ran out of gas in the final minutes. Western pulled to within 62-60 on a three-point basket by Galston (15 points) with 2:49 left.

Servite (24-6) nursed that two-point lead, but after Eddie Rubio missed the front end of a one-and-one, Western had a chance to tie.

Galston handled the action, driving left and planning to take a jump shot. However, at the last second, Anderson stripped the ball free with 31 seconds left.

“I noticed all night that he (Galston) was bringing the ball off his hip before he shot,” Anderson said. “I saw him starting to go up, so I stuck my hand out. The ball went right into it.”

After the steal, Matt Kenney made one of two free throws, with Anderson grabbing the miss. That set up two free throws by Ryan Dodd, which finally clinched the victory.

“When you don’t have much time to prepare for a team, you either win with a gutsy performance or by being real smart,” Servite Coach Rich Smith said. “Tonight we got by on a gutsy performance.”

The Friars strayed from their purist path most of the game. A plod-and-pass team all season, they allowed themselves to get caught up in Western’s free-wheeling, shoot-it-if-you-got-it philosophy.

For a while, it didn’t seem to matter.

Anderson scored 17 of his 23 points in the first half, and Servite had a 39-32 lead at halftime. A layup by Dan Coady gave the Friars a 46-36 advantage with 5:48 left in the third quarter.

There have been entire games when the Friars haven’t scored 46 points.

“It was a lot of fun to run and shoot like that,” Anderson said. “But that’s just not us. We’re a possession team. I think we got a little fatigued.”

The Friars’ lead dwindle to five, 54-49, at the end of the third quarter. The Mustangs chipped away at the lead through the fourth quarter, pulling to within two points four times and three times had a chance to tie the score.

On their last try, though, Anderson was waiting.