Serra wins first state championship with D2 win over Long Beach Poly

Sacramento — When Serra (San Mateo, Calif.) basketball coach Chuck Rapp was asked about just winning the school's first state title in any sport, a tenacious 48-43 Division II triumph over Long Beach Poly Saturday at Sleep Train Arena, he didn't hesitate.

"It's like climbing Mount Everest," he said drawing immediate giant laughter from his team in the arena's media room. "Sorry. … inside joke."

That was fitting, because the Padres victory was an inside job.

Scrapping their reliable three-point shooting, Serra (26-5) went to the basket, forced fouls and then, even more important, did a number on the defensive rebounds led by West Catholic Athletic League Player of the Year Jake Killingsworth.

The 6-foot-5 senior and Columbia-bound standout scored 15 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to go along with a terrific floor game from Lee Jones (13 points) as the Serra overcame an early deficit to defeat the athletic but cold shooting Jackrabbits (24-11).

"To go out and win this with my second family with a big, great student body is unbelievable," Killingsworth said.

Said Rapp: "It's truly a historic day. Winning the first title can never be taken away from us."

Not that Poly didn't try. Led by 16 points and 10 rebounds from Zafir Williams, the Jackrabbits were ahead most of the first half and led by as much as six.

Then Killingsworth led a 10-0 run, scoring three straight buckets on two jumpers and a putback. That put the Padres up 29-23.

Poly got as close as 33-30 early in the fourth quarter, but again Serra had an answer with an 8-3 run, starting with a pretty reverse layup by Killingsworth and finished off with a driving layup by Jeremiah Testa.

Testa, the team's second leading scorer, had an otherwise rough outing, going 2-for-12 from the floor and scoring eight points. "I'll trade a bad game for a state championship any day," Testa said.

Rapp said before the game that whoever won the rebound battle would win and behind Killingsworth, Serra held a 35-28 edge. More importantly, Poly grabbed only seven offensive boards and Killingsworth had 12 defensive rebounds.

"Jake is an automatic double-double," Rapp said. "He's a swiss-army knife, he does so much for us. He definitely left his mark on the school and program."

Poly coach Shelton Diggs praised the play of the Padres and coaching of Rapp, but questioned the free throw discrepancy. Serra made 15 of 21 tries, Poly attempted only three and made two.

"I've never heard of three free throw attempts in a championship game," Diggs said. "Any game."

But the Jackrabbits did try to win the from the perimeter, taking 20 three-pointers, while make five. Serra tried four 3s and made one.

Rapp said the plan was always to go inside. "People say we're old fashion and I see that as a compliment. We can attack a lot of different ways. With the big gym, I thought our best option was to go inside."

Serra got a another big game from senior John Besse, who made four of five shots for eight points. Last week he made 8 of nine shots in the regional final.

"It was a competitive game, back and forth, we couldn't play soft," Besse said.

Poly got nine points from Harrison Bonner, but made just 18 of 53 shots (34 percent).

"They're good," Diggs said. "But frankly, it was just us. We didn't score enough to win a championship game. We didn't put the ball in the hole like we normally do. That's what you need to do."

Rapp, who finished second in the WCAL, said most of the year the Padres had never hit their ceiling.

"We peaked at the just the right time," Rapp said. "The credit goes all the guys. They did all the heavy lifting. This is a historic win we'll remember for the rest of our lives."