St. Rita senior Javon Cooley wasn’t worried Friday night when he started the second half against Leo by clanking two straight free throws off of the rim.

“I knew I would make some of the (next) ones,” Cooley said. “I just had to not let them knock me off of my game and keep me from where I was going.”

Cooley and the Mustangs went full speed ahead for a 71-54 Catholic League White victory.

Cooley led St. Rita (20-7, 11-1) with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Jeremiah Oden added 18 points, while Joel Watts contributed 14 points and Connor Serven had 13 rebounds.

Fred Cleveland scored 15 points for Leo (18-7, 8-4). Myles Thomas added nine.

Cooley was the spark St. Rita needed in the third quarter. After the missed free throws, the 6-foot-5 forward went on a tear, scoring 10 points, making two steals, blocking a shot and grabbing three rebounds.

He even hit a 3-pointer.

“Oh, they aren’t rare, they just come with the offense,” Cooley said with a smile. “On defense, I always have my hands up and try to be ready on my toes at all times.”

The outburst allowed St. Rita to open a 44-37 lead in the third quarter. Another 3-pointer by Cooley early in the fourth gave the Mustangs a double-digit edge they maintained the rest of the way.

“Javon has been great for us this year,” St. Rita head coach Gary DeCesare said. “He has really come along. We battled the whole last year about running hard and playing hard.

“He’s our most gifted athlete on the court. He’s got so much in him. It took me a year to get it out of him. Now he’s showing it.”

Cooley didn’t disagree with the assessment.

“It took me (a season) to gain strength mentally and physically,” Cooley said. “Coach was always on me at practice, and last season I didn’t play as much. But this season I have a bigger role, and all of the pushing he did last year is coming out now.”

Oden was an effective complement to Cooley, playing 32 minutes in what was more or less a physical grind.

“Oh man, coach told us about a clip from a movie (that had) a bar fight,” Oden said. “He just said it was going to be a bar fight (Friday). That’s what we came here expecting and we wanted to win every round.

“They came in and beat us by 20 last year, so we wanted to come here and do the same thing this season.”

Lions coach Jamal Thompson came to the game after an emotional day.

The 2000 Leo graduate spoke at the funeral of Bob Schablaske, who was a teacher and coach at the school for 26 years.

“He was like a father to me,” Thompson said. “He was one of my biggest mentors. One thing he always said to me was to always be prepared.

“That’s one of my goals right now is to have my guys prepared for anything and everything.”

abaranek@tribpub.com

Twitter @TBaranek