Santa Clara Bounces Back, Hounds Bassett, 81-53 : Division IV boys: Saints come back with strong performance after losing in Southern Section final.

The Santa Clara High boys’ basketball team, a bridesmaid in last week’s Southern Section tournament, probably wouldn’t have watched anyway. The team the Saints would need to beat to spark a new postseason dream was right before their eyes.

But Santa Clara’s players didn’t bother to lift their heads as they dejectedly filed out of UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center while the Bassett Olympians were running and gunning to a Division IV-AA championship.

“We saw them warming up a little, but we just went back to our hotel,” said Santa Clara forward Damian Cantrell, whose career-high 37 points weren’t enough to shoot down Verbum Dei in the division IV-A final.

The Saints didn’t need to watch anybody else. They just needed to find themselves, which they did Tuesday inside Bassett’s noisy gym.

Santa Clara routed the host Olympians, 81-53, as Cantrell matched his career high with another 37 points. The Saints (20-8) outscored Bassett, 50-26, in the second half as Cantrell scored 28 of his points.

“Hell no, we didn’t need to watch them,” Santa Clara Coach Lou Cvijanovich said. “We prepare for everything. We’ve got everything in our game plan to compensate for the press or whatever they want to throw at us.”

Bassett (16-13), outsized by Santa Clara at every position but center, tried to turn the first half into a cat fight. The Olympians led early and kept it close at halftime, 31-27, by forcing turnovers and triple-teaming the 6-foot-4 Cantrell.

Bassett, its crowd screaming and its small back court players setting a breathless pace, jumped out to a 13-8 lead in the first quarter. The Olympians’ biggest player, 6-foot-5 Robert Henson (21 points), capped the early run with a three-pointer from the top of the key after he made a steal at the other end.

Santa Clara, coaxed into 10 turnovers in the first half, scratched back to tie it, 13-13, with 1:05 left in the quarter on JeVaughn Baker’s three-point shot from the wing.

The Saints built a 21-13 lead with a 15-3 run, but Bassett narrowed the gap to one point before trailing by four at halftime.

Cantrell was nearly boxed, elbowed and pushed out of the game in the opening 16 minutes while guard Damien Smith kept Santa Clara ahead with eight of his 13 points.

Three times in the first half Cantrell tried to dribble for a shot in the low post and three times 5-5 guard Johnny Phan stole the ball.

At halftime, Cvijanovich pulled Cantrell aside and told the senior to play his game.

“He told me to show everybody out there I’m a man,” Cantrell said. “He told me to overcome my mistakes. Plus, the crowd was talking trash and I thrive off that.”

Cantrell drove for a layup to make it 35-28. He hit a 25-foot three-pointer to make it 39-28. He scored six consecutive points for the Saints to make it 50-36, two coming off a steal and slam dunk.

Cantrell put the game out of reach with 5:17 remaining when he scored a layup off an offensive rebound and was fouled by Michael Vega. He made the free throw to give the Saints a 57-40 lead.

Ten Santa Clara players scored, including Damon Gilmer, who had nine points off the bench.