Furious Rally Helps Manchester's East Catholic To Hoops Threepeat

UNCASVILLE, CT — Proving every sports cliché true, Manchester's East Catholic High School Saturday showed a basketball game, especially of the championship variety, is never over until its over.

And to be the champs, you have to beat the champs.

That didn't happen in this battle of conference rivals, with the Eagles winning their third straight title.

Down double digits and about to get blown out of the Mohegan Sun Arena, the defending CIAC Division I champions mounted a furious second-half rally en route to a repeat title with a 49-47 defeat of West Hartford's Northwest Catholic High School.

In doing so, the Eagles showed that you have to play 32 great minutes, something the Lions appeared on the verge of doing. It didn't work out.

While short on scoring, the game was long on intensity and drama.

"That's what a Division I championship game is supposed to look like," said East Catholic High School Boys Basketball Coach Luke Reilly.

Both teams entered the tournament with outstanding records, East Catholic was 19-1 while Northwest was 18-2.

Three wins later, they engaged in a holy war between Catholic schools and Central Connecticut Conference rivals.

In the first half, however, this appeared more like a beat-down instead of a war, with Northwest Catholic opening up a 22-8 first quarter lead en route to a 30-18 halftime lead.

That's when, East Catholic dug deep and started pressing, stealing and running their offense.

"We started playing a little one-on-one, then we got caught up in the moment a bit," Reilly said regarding the first-half deficit.

Then the baskets started falling and the turnovers and rebounding started happening.

After the second half started, East Catholic eventually took the lead, 35-34, as the large crowd was whipped in a frenzy.

Then both sides started to trade the lead, giving their hoarse fans hope for a title.

Northwest Catholic's Jack Nieradko, in his final game, appeared to be the hero, hitting two straight three-pointers to give Northwest a 47-45 lead down the stretch.

But East Catholic's furious rally and clutch defense allowed the Eagles to close out the game with four straight points.

"We were a little tight in the beginning and they got a little tight in the end," Reilly said.

East Catholic was led by a dominant performance by senior James Jones, who closed out his high school career with 28 points and 6 rebounds.

Sophomore Preston Fowler added in 12 points as East's second-leading scorer.

Northwest was led by junior captain London Jemison, who had 23 points and 6 rebounds in a losing effort.

Following the final horn, a distraught Northwest Catholic sat on their bench, exhausted, some in tears, all of them disappointed.

The were unable to replicate the success of the Northwest Catholic girls basketball team earlier in the day. They defeated Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport for the Class S title.

Meanwhile, Reilly's squad was jubilant, shouting, jumping and celebrating with a packed student section and cheerleaders.

"I'm ecstatic," Reilly said. "Everyone contributed the way it should be."

Said Reilly: "We have a dedicated bunch of guys and they give it their all every day."

The night ended with one more cliché: Queen's "We are the Champions." No one seemed to care.

For all of the game stats courtesy of the CIAC, click on this link.