Kraus Keys Tustin Victory Over Servite
It may be way too early to consider a league title in the bag, but surely Tustin took one giant step in its Golden West League opener Friday night at Servite.
The Tillers, with a game-high 21 points from senior forward Matt Kraus, pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 53-41 victory.
In a league in which the combined record of the other four teams going into Friday’s action was 23-38, the winner of this one figured to be clearly in the driver’s seat. The odds seem even better now for Tustin, since Servite (8-7, 0-1) has to play at Tustin (14-3, 1-0) Jan. 26.
“We’d like to think we are a league contender,” said Servite Coach Scott Hamilton, acknowledging it might be an uphill fight. “Obviously, Tustin has a leg up now.”
This one featured a matchup between two of the county’s leading senior post players, but neither 6-foot-7 forward David Lalazarian of Tustin or 6-foot-9 center Lance Day of Servite was outstanding. Day, despite finishing with 15 points and seven rebounds, was in perpetual foul trouble. He sat out more than 12 minutes of the first half and several minutes spanning the third and four quarters.
Lalazarian, who finished with 15 points, couldn’t buy a basket for much of the first three quarters, making only three of 10 field-goal attempts in that span. Much of that had to do with a sagging Friar defense. But Lalazarian finished with 11 rebounds, and his assist that led to a lay-in by Kraus with 6 minutes 25 seconds remaining was a key play in an 11-2 run that saw the Tillers take a 39-31 lead.
“They had a lot of guys on me,” Lalazarian said. “Sometimes it was a double- or triple-team.”
Although Servite trailed most of the game, the Friars never fell behind by more than five points until Tustin’s fourth-quarter run. In fact, the Friars caught the Tillers at 28-28 with 2:05 left in the third quarter and were awarded the ball after a technical foul on Tustin guard Ryan Earl.
But in their excitement the Friars spent too much time celebrating near their bench. The referees placed the ball on the floor at the midline and began the five-second count. By the time the Friars realized what was happening, time expired.
Kraus followed moments later with a left-handed layup and Tustin never trailed after that.
“That was our opportunity and we didn’t capitalize on it,” Hamilton said. “We missed some wide-open shots after that. Credit the Tustin defense for that.”
In another league game:
Santa Ana 54, Saddleback 40--Danny Rivero scored 20 points and had 10 assists to lead Santa Ana (9-6, 1-0) in the league opener. Teammate Ralph Jordan scored 12 points for the Saints.