Serra’s home court is warmed and ready to go for the 2023-24 basketball season.
The Padres (4-1) filled up Morton Family Gymnasium for the first time this season and did not disappoint. Serra held off a sharpshooting Sacred Heart Prep squad for a 53-45 victory Thursday night, relying on a crisp defense and the hot hand of forward Alex Naber.
Naber netted a game-high 18 points, and was really in the zone, connecting for some short shots early, and extending his range as the night wore on. One thing was for sure, there was a point where every time the ball left the 6-foot senior’s hand, you knew it was going in.

 
 
“It felt good,” Naber said. “I felt confident. ... I work really hard, so this was just reps. Confidence comes from preparation, so that’s where my confidence came from — and also through my teammates too.”

SHP (3-3) has been a 3-point shooting juggernaut this season, but Serra was intent on taking away the perimeter from the outset. The Gators attempted just 16 3-points in the game, hitting five of them, including just a 1-for-4 clip through the opening quarter.
“That was a focus all week is that these guys can shoot the hell out of it,” Serra head coach Chuck Rapp said, “and we’ve got to contest everything, and we’ve got to run them off the line. So, yeah, we really worked at contesting shots and extending our defense, and make them put it on the deck. We were going to run them off the line.”
Serra opened on a hot streak, hitting 8 of 12 shots through the first quarter to take an 18-10 lead into the second stanza. Then the driving lanes shrunk and the 3s started to rain down. The Gators had their best stretch from beyond the arc in the second, hitting 3 of 5 on 3-point attempts, but the Padres kept pace, hitting two themselves.
“I thought the second quarter, that felt more like us,” SHP head coach Tony Martinelli said, “but Serra does such a good job of taking away what you want to do first, and that was get out and run a little bit. They kept us in the half court more than we like to be. But even when we got in the half court, I was proud of some of the shots we got.
With the Gators opening the quarter on a 7-0 run, senior TJ O’Brien got the 3 spree started for SHP. His perimeter 3 midway through the quarter closed it to 18-15, and senior Erick Osterloh followed with a layup off a slick bounce pass from senior big Tyler Hogan. Serra responded with a clutch 3 from junior Alton Robenalt, but SHP fired back when JP Kerrigan knocked down a long perimeter 3 to make it 21-20.

 
Naber then gave the Padres some breathing room, connecting from the top of the arc for a 3 to push it to 24-20. The Gators went on a five-point run and took the lead briefly, as Osterloh scored on a transition layup. But Serra seized on an outbreak of technical foul calls to swing back ahead, with SHP getting called for two techs in the course of one minute, with the Padres converting 2 of 4 tech free throws.
“We deserved [the first] one,” Martinelli said, explaining it was for profane language. The second one, however, with Kerrigan getting called for flopping, Martinelli disputed.
“They said JP didn’t get hit,” Martinelli said. “JP swears that he did, and it looked like he did to me as well. So, back-to-back technicals, especially when the game was going so smoothly, and I felt like there was some momentum on both sides ... two technicals back-to-back just slows things down. I don’t want to make it sound like I’m complaining about it, because I appreciate everything officials do for us. But in that moment, that part of the game when it had a flow to it, just threw things off a little bit.”


 
Serra took a 28-25 lead into the half, and SHP would catch up just once more, tying it 24-24 on an and-1 by O’Brien with 2:29 to play in the third quarter. But a free throw from senior Ryan Pettis, who finished with 13 points, followed by a 12-foot jumper by junior Mikey Ballout gave the Padres the lead for good.
SHP closed it it to 38-37 in the fourth on a corner 3 from Kerrigan, but Serra responded with a 6-2 run, and Naber enjoying his best quarter of the game. The senior scored nine points in the fourth, including a big corner 3 with 3:05 to go to put the Padres up 47-41.

 
The Gators went ice cold from the field in the fourth quarter, converting just 4 of 16 shots from the field.
“I thought we got a couple open looks there,” Martinelli said. “But when a team runs at you the way they do and closes so quickly, I think sometimes you rush it a little bit. And I thought that was probably more a product of not really having a guy there, but feeling like there was going to be one there soon, and kind of got the shot away a little quicker.”
A transfer from St. Ignatius prior to last year, Naber was mostly a reserve player as a junior.
“Coming in as a transfer last season ... I was not getting the minutes that I wanted to,” Naber said. “But that’s OK. But now, me and Ryan and Andrew and Angelo, we’re just going after it, trying to get wins.”
“Now he’s really stepped into a leadership role as a senior leader, starter, one of the cornerstones of the team,” Rapp said. “He’s really embraced it. He’s a good kid. He’s a team player, a team-first guy; his teammates love him and he plays for his teammates.”
Kerrigan paced SHP with 14 points, including seven in the fourth quarter.
“He’s been like that ever since he came to Sacred Heart,” Martinelli said. “He’s been one of those guys that he loves playing the game, he’s in the gym as much as he can be, and he prepares for moments like that. So, when the ball’s in his hands late in the game, we know we’re going to get something good. And he knocked some really big shots to keep us in the game.”
Serra senior Angelo Ghattas — contending with the 6-4 Hogan, and the 6-3 Osterloh — was a big presence in the post, totaling eights with a game-high seven rebounds, and adding two blocked shots.

 
“Angelo’s huge,” Rapp said. “He did everything but sweep up the court after the game. Angelo was great, and he had a big game. And he’s that guy. He kind of does everything for us, and he’s the glue guy, the energy guy, and he’s one of the best offensive rebounders I’ve ever coached. So, he was huge. I thought he had a great game.”

Serra now has a stretch of three straight Peninsula Athletic League teams to face, all at home, beginning with Saturday’s 7:30 p.m. tip-off against Hillsdale. West Catholic Athletic League play opens Thursday, Jan. 4, at Sacred Heart Cathedral at 7:30 p.m.

Thursday marked the first time Serra and SHP have matched up since the 2015-16 season. The Padres have now won three head-to-head matchups, since the Gators won a 48-47 thriller in 2013-14.