SAN MATEO >> In what is turning into a costly postseason trend, Santa Cruz High’s boys basketball team was, again, doomed by a slow start.

The Cardinals dropped their second Central Coast Section Open Division pool-play playoff game 65-53 to Junipero Serra on Monday.

The game essentially followed the script of Santa Cruz’s loss to another West Catholic Athletic League power, No. 1 seed Archbishop Mitty, three days early: fall behind early, fight back, but suffer the loss, deal with regret.

“It was a physical game, but a winnable game,” Santa Cruz senior Aden Cury said. “We came out slow again. Then we proved we can play with them. We just came out too slow.”

The Cardinals (22-6) concludes pool play at Saint Ignatius (13-13) in San Francisco on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., and will compete in the CIF NorCal playoffs next week. Santa Cruz will attempt to avenge its 77-71 nonleague loss to the Wildcats in its season opener Nov. 26.

Santa Cruz trailed Serra 17-9 after one quarter and 33-19 at halftime. But the Cardinals narrowed their deficit to 46-39 thanks to a nine-point run bridging the third and fourth quarters. After a Serra push, Santa Cruz charged again and closed within 53-47 with 3:15 to play. But the Padres pulled away.

Cury led Santa Cruz with 24 points and Ben Dotten added 14 points. The Padres (16-10), tied for third-place in the WCAL behind Mitty and Archbishop Riordan, were paced by Ryan Pettis with 22 points. Marcel Elicagaray scored 15 points, and Seamus Gilmartin chipped in with 12 points.Santa Cruz broke down Serra’s defense but had trouble finishing. And the Cardinals had problems converting from the charity stripe too.

“You can’t miss 17 layups and shoot seven of 16 from the free throw line,” Santa Cruz coach Lawan Milhouse said. “Those are going to kill you all day long. And we didn’t match their intensity or their physicality. They’re bullies and we knew it, but we let them bully us.”

Serra shot 16 of 25 in the first half, with many buckets coming on layups by breaking the Cardinals’ full-court zone press and halfcourt zone defense. The refs were calling fouls on the Padres but lots of physical play, commonplace in the WCAL, was allowed.

The contest featured exciting back-and-forth action before a nearly-packed gym. Serra rooters filled the majority of the venue but a sizable Santa Cruz contingent cheered on the visitors.

In the third quarter, Cury gave them a lot to shout about. The 6-foot-5 wing, Santa Cruz’s only senior starter, scored five straight buckets for the Cardinals. Dotten, Kirby Seals and Demarco Hunter provided support and kept Serra under control during the rally.

The charge continued as Demeke Smith opened the final stanza by draining three free throws when fouled on a long shot. The score was 46-39. Pettis replied for the Padres with a long 3-pointer and a coast-to-coast dunk after a steal. Cury, Hunter, Dotten and Smith led the last Cardinals’ flurry, creeping SC within 53-47 with 3:15 to play.

“We decided to start playing basketball,” Milhouse said. “We started to understand our assignments. We played physical.”

But the Padres closed things out with eight free throws down the stretch.

“We locked up our defense on them,” Pettis said. “We’re a defensive school. Coach (Chuck Rapp) told us to move the ball to get past their press and it got us open shots. Santa Cruz is very good. They’re athletic, a lot like Riordan.”

Serra will next face Mitty, a 67-43 victor against St. Ignatius on Monday, in a battle for the top spot in the pool and a CCS finals berth. The Cardinals hope to take third place in the pool by winning their CCS finale.

Milhouse will try to get his young team off to a better beginning.

“If you play in the WCAL or against WCAL teams, you can’t have that slow start,” Milhouse said. “You have to play the entire 32 minutes.”