Off-Season Training of the Guards Pays Off for Servite : Boys’ basketball: Running last fall helped Jamie Rosenkranz and Paul Stapleton come on strong in the stretch.

ANAHEIM —  Although it seemed foolish at the time, Servite High School guards Jamie Rosenkranz and Paul Stapleton laced their running shoes three times a week last fall for a three-mile jaunt through the side streets near campus.

Distance running is a death march for most basketball players, and the Friars were no exception. Coach Richard Smith usually came along to make sure everyone kept pace.

“We probably would have done well in cross-country,” Stapleton said.

But Rosenkranz, who usually won the runs with a six-minute pace, knew the extra workouts would come in handy someday.

“We’re probably one of the best-conditioned teams around,” he said. “We don’t get tired in the fourth quarter like other teams do.”

And the Friars’ fourth-quarter play is the reason they’ll be facing Hayward Mt. Eden in the state Division III basketball championship game at 11:15 a.m. Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum. The Friars (20-11), making their first appearance in the state final, have won seven of their past eight games.

Throughout the playoffs, Smith has told his players, “We own the fourth quarter.”

And they have. Consider what Rosenkranz has done in the final quarter of the past two games. He scored nine of his game-high 15 points, including five in a row to start a 13-3 run, in the Servite’s 46-29 victory over Dos Pueblos.

Against Corona del Mar in the semifinals, he made a three-point basket to tie the score at 37 with 2:08 left in what wound up as a 41-39 victory.

“He’s a clutch player,” Smith said. “We have competitive kids. Each of the kids say to themselves, ‘If we need it, I can win it for us.’ In the Corona del Mar game, Jamie decided we were not going to lose.”

It was a shot that Rosenkranz wasn’t supposed to take. “We came out of a timeout and we set up something (inside),” Smith said. “He picked up the dribble and the guy who was covering him looked away and he was open. He nailed it. It was the biggest shot for us all year.”

Rosenkranz actually has been taking more shots lately. He averaged only seven a game during the regular season but has averaged 12 a game in the playoffs.

“Jamie’s by far our best shooter,” Stapleton said. “At the beginning of the season, he wasn’t shooting enough. I kept telling him, ‘Shoot more.’ ”

Last season, Rosenkranz was the varsity’s starting shooting guard. When Stapleton was promoted from the junior varsity this season, Rosenkranz moved to point guard.

“Coming into the season we didn’t have a point guard,” Rosenkranz said. “Eddie Rubio can play point guard, but coach didn’t want to force him in there early because he was only a sophomore.”

Stapleton, meanwhile, has played a variety of roles at shooting guard.

“He would take six or seven three-pointers early in the season because the other team was giving them to him,” Smith said. “In one game, he had five three-pointers in a quarter and everyone said, ‘He’s going to be the next Hersey Hawkins.’

“As we gelled, Paul was a big part of it. He’s not shooting as many ‘threes’ as he was so people aren’t noticing him as much.”

Both Stapleton’s and Rosenkranz’s scoring averages dropped this season.

Stapleton, a 6-foot senior, averages about six points a game, five fewer than he averaged with the junior varsity. Rosenkranz, a 6-3 senior, watched his average drop from eight to six points.

“I was one of only two returning starters and I had to be a floor leader,” Rosenkranz said. “I learned to be a little more of a team player this year instead of worrying about my own statistics.”

Most of the statistics go to 6-7 center Steve Marusich, the Friars’ other returning starter who is averaging 15.4 points and 10 rebounds a game. Sophomore forward Adam Anderson averages 10 points and five rebounds a game.

Stapleton and Rosenkranz have been surprises during the playoffs, both averaging nine points a game. And Stapleton’s playmaking ability (three assists a game) has been a bright spot in the Friars’ snail-slow offense.

Stapleton and Rosenkranz appear to be an incongruous pair on the court. Rosenkranz’s blond hair is cut in a surfer style; Stapleton wears a wry smile and has dark hair. Smith said their personalities and playing styles blend well.

“They’re similar in the fact that they’re competitive kids with a quiet demeanor,” Smith said. “You don’t see the fiery attitude on the outside, but that’s the kind of players they are.”

That attitude shows in their defense, however. Stapleton and Rosenkranz are key members of Servite’s matchup zone defense, which has held opponents to an average of 41 points in the state tournament.

“We had Long Beach Poly baffled by our zone in the Tournament of Champions,” Stapleton said. “They couldn’t run a play on us and they scored only 50 points. The only game the zone didn’t work was when we played Estancia.”

That’s because the Friars were playing against Estancia guard Agustin Heredia, who regarded defenses as only a minor annoyance during the playoffs.

Heredia scored 32 points in the Eagles’ 51-49 overtime victory in the Southern Section 3-AA final. “We didn’t play up to our full capabilities or we could have contained him better,” Rosenkranz said.

Despite the loss, Servite landed a state tournament bid. After victories over Lemoore, Corona del Mar and Dos Pueblos in a five-day stretch last week, the Friars are enjoying six days off to prepare for the final.

“It almost seems like we’re not in the state final,” Rosenkranz said. “We had a lot of pressure on us before the Estancia game. We had banners all over the school that said, ‘Beat Estancia,’ and everyone was talking about it. It went to our heads. Now we rarely even talk about it.”

Nor do they talk about how they broke a training-table tradition before the 3-AA final. Rosenkranz’s mother, Shirley, regularly cooks pasta for the players before games, but because the 3-AA final was on Ash Wednesday, they ate fish.

This Saturday, the Friars will be on their own for their pregame meal, however. “Mom’s not coming up (to Oakland) until Saturday morning,” Rosenkranz said.

Stapleton will likely be playing his last game in a school uniform. He said he has no plans to play in college.

But Rosenkranz has applied at Princeton, Notre Dame and Stanford. He’s also considering St. Mary’s College, where his older brother, Tim, played quarterback.

“It all depends on where I go,” he said. “If I’m accepted at Princeton, I might try to walk-on there. I don’t think I’m the caliber of player who can compete with Notre Dame and Stanford.”