Sports

Owen Pilots Spellman past Moore Catholic

Spellman's Anthony Williams drives in looking to score.

Spellman’s Anthony Williams drives in looking to score. (an rong xu)

Luke used the force.

That doesn’t always happen, but when it does, good things usually happen for Cardinal Spellman.

“When he plays well, we play well,” Pilots coach Fred Opper said of Luke Owen. “He’s an inside presence you need on a team. [Kenny] Ruiz is more of a shooter, but Luke has to score around the basket. When he does that, we’re a good team.”

Owen did just that on Saturday, piloting Spellman to a 58-48 win against Moore Catholic in the first round of the CHSAA Class A intersectional playoffs at Mount St. Michael in The Bronx.

If only the 6-foot-3 senior forward was more consistent.

“Luke is Luke, Luke is like Manny Ramirez,” Opper said. “He played well. When he plays hard and he goes after the ball, he’s a very good player. He’s been doing that of late. He did that against Regis, which was our best win of the year. Now this is the best win of the year.”

Owen, who scored six of his team-high 15 points in the decisive fourth quarter, said he understands his importance and how it relates to Spellman’s success.

“I guess when I play well the team gets confidence because they kind of look up to me to play well,” he said. “I’m just trying to get better since freshman year.”

Owen credited his success Saturday to point guard Jonathan Fermin (11 points). The senior fed the ball inside to him and Ruiz, who had nine points. Opper said the plan was to work inside-out, especially against an undersized Moore team.

“When we went inside we were very successful today,” he said.

Cardinal Spellman (7-17) also stepped up the defensive intensity, especially in the fourth quarter, forcing Moore Catholic (7-17) to settle for long-distance attempts.

Led by Mark Fiorello, who scored a team-high 15 points, the Mavericks cut their deficit to 42-38 early in the fourth quarter, but the Pilots reeled off six straight points to extend their lead to 48-38. Fiorello knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, but another 7-0 spurt by Spellman put the game away for good.

“It was a close game and we gave them four quick points so instead of coming down with a chance to tie the game, we’re down six points,” Moore coach Tony Rafaniello said. “We weren’t shooting the ball well, we were missing free throws. It makes it very difficult to win a game like that.”

Scott Schaefer added nine points for Moore, but the Mavericks frontcourt players, including foul-plagued Matthew Pardilla and John Baggs, struggled.

“We need him to play better than he did because he’s been our most consistent big guy and he really didn’t give us a lot today,” Rafaniello said of Baggs.

While Moore mulls over a season-ending loss, Spellman returns home to meet defending Class A intersectional champion Archbishop Stepinac in the second round. The Pilots are heavy underdogs, which is fine with Owen.

“We’re going to go straight at them on Tuesday,” Owen said. “We’re playing on our home court and they’re not going to expect much from us, but we’re going to give them something to play for.”

dbutler@nypost.com