Santa Clara Shakes Off St. Anthony to Reach Final

Lou Cvijanovich, basketball coach at Santa Clara High, was dismayed by the way his team played in a Southern Section Division IV-AA boys’ playoff game last Friday. So for Tuesday’s game against St. Anthony, he had his team bring both sets of jerseys.

That way they could hand the uniforms in immediately after a loss.

It was close, but Santa Clara will keep its uniforms, at least for one more game. Santa Clara defeated St. Anthony, 62-60, in a semifinal at Long Beach Wilson.

Isaiah Mustafa’s layup gave Santa Clara (24-3) a 62-58 lead with 23 seconds left, breaking a two-minute scoring drought by both teams.

Stevie Amar scored 20 points for Santa Clara--14 in the first half--despite playing most of the game with three fouls. Mustafa scored 18 points, 12 after intermission.

On Friday, Cvijanovich’s team will play in its fourth consecutive Southern Section title game, against Pius X.

Cvijanovich, who lectured long and hard during practice Monday, was pleased Tuesday.

“Undoubtedly, our intensity from the beginning to the end was there,” Cvijanovich said. “I’m sure if these teams played 10 times, we would win five and they would win five.”

This one appeared to be a Santa Clara runaway as the Saints built a 10-point second-quarter lead. But Jason Wright scored 13 of his 23 points in the third quarter to rally St. Anthony (18-10).

His third three-point basket of the quarter pulled St. Anthony to within one point, 46-45, with 20 seconds left in the quarter.

St. Anthony tied the score, 56-56, with 3 minutes 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter. After Santa Clara took a 60-58 lead with 2:36 left, neither team scored until Mustafa’s layup.

Santa Clara, which trailed most of the third quarter, led, 37-30, at halftime. Chris Cole scored eight points in the second quarter for Santa Clara, which used only five players.

With Santa Clara trailing, 17-16, Amar made two free throws to give the Saints the lead for good and ignite a 21-13 run to close the half.

With 1:52 left in the third quarter, Cole was fouled on a layup attempt. He crashed to the floor and was slow getting up. After a timeout that allowed him to regain his breath, Cole made one of two free throws.