Calvary Chapel Bangs Its Way to Final

BAKERSFIELD — For a club better known for talented guards, Calvary Chapel showed it can play with the big boys Thursday night.

Coach Craig Falconer’s Eagles used some strong inside play and stifling man-to-man defense to advance to the Southern California Division IV championship game with a 73-63 victory over Bakersfield Garces.

“That was very important for us to go inside,” Falconer said after watching senior center Robert Cutler score 16 of his 18 points in the second half. “We had to go inside, because we weren’t really shooting all that well from the outside, and we were looking pretty stagnant. But Robert stepped up big for us.”

Indeed, Cutler was the difference for the Eagles, who will face Santa Monica Crossroads, a 63-45 winner over Santa Fe Springs St. Paul, at 11 a.m. Saturday at Cal State Fullerton. Cutler not only came alive on offense, but he took command of the middle at both ends of the floor.

Cutler first maneuvered his counterpart, Garces senior Mike Lazzerini, into foul trouble, then took advantage of that situation, scoring eight of Calvary Chapel’s 23 points in the third quarter as the Eagles (27-5) erased a three-point halftime deficit and turned it into a four-point lead to start the final quarter.

An 8-2 run by the Eagles to start the second quarter put them in the lead briefly, but Garces rallied again, outscoring Calvary Chapel, 13-6, the rest of the quarter to grab a 32-29 lead at the intermission.

“We played good defense in the first half, but we could have been better,” Falconer said. “We weren’t getting the kind of intensity from the offside defenders that we needed and that let them get some things going. But we were able to take their big guy out of the flow and use the inside game.”

Certainly, Lazzerini’s foul problems hurt the Rams. With Lazzerini toting four fouls, the inside defense softened, and Cutler got busy.

Calvary Chapel outscored the Rams, 23-16, in the third quarter.