Chaminade clinches Catholic League title over Holy Trinity 85-65

Gregory Giaconelli
Chaminade junior forward Brendan McGuire (Photo by Gregory Giaconelli)

The second-seeded Chaminade Flyers defeated the top seeded Holy Trinity Titans 85-65 in the N.S.C.H.S.A.A championship game Tuesday evening at Hofstra University, led by Bobby Connors’ 20 points.

Brendan McGuire and Michael O’Connell recorded 18 and 17 points respectively as Chaminade captured their ninth NSCHSAA title and third championship in five seasons.

Chaminade head coach Bob Paul said ball handling and maintaining possession was the difference in winning the championship game.

Chaminade senior forward Kyle Murphy (Photo by Gregory Giaconelli)
Chaminade senior forward Kyle Murphy (Photo by Gregory Giaconelli)

“In the past couple of games, we had some bad turnovers,” Paul said. “In this game, I didn’t think we had many. I think taking care of the ball and possessing it was the key.”

Chaminade jumped out to a commanding start to the game, in which they outscored Holy Trinity 25-13.

Connors led Chaminade’s attack with six points and went 2-2 from the outside.

Chaminade had gone 5-8 from three point range in the opening quarter.

Cam Wynter led Holy Trinity with six points. He recorded four points from the inside and went 2-2 on the line.

Holy Trinity outscored Chaminade 19-16 in the second quarter but Chaminade held a nine point lead heading into halftime.

Thornton Scott led Holy Trinity with 14 points in the second quarter and recorded a team leading 17 points in the first half.

McGuire and Kyle Murphy led Chaminade with four points each.

Murphy and Connors led Chaminade with eight points apiece in the first half while McGuire and O’Connell each posted seven.

Each side scored 19 points in the third quarter but Chaminade led 60-51 heading into the final quarter.

McGuire led Chaminade with eight points in the third quarter, in which he knocked down four shots from inside. He finished the second half with 11 points and totaled 18 in the game.

McGuire said a big factor in his game was being able to connect on open shots.

“The team just moves the ball around and we shoot open shots,” McGuire said. “Anyone can score those points on our team. In this game, it just happened to be me.”

Wynter led Holy Trinity with six points in the third quarter, in which he sank three baskets.

In the fourth quarter, Chaminade dominated Holy Trinity 25-14 and went on to win 85-65, clinching their ninth NSCHSAA title.

O’Connell and Connors paced Chaminade’s offense with seven and six points respectively in the final quarter.

Chaminade freshman guard Michael O'Connell (Photo by Gregory Giaconelli)
Chaminade freshman guard Michael O’Connell (Photo by Gregory Giaconelli)

Connors recorded 12 points in the second half and compiled 20 points overall.

O’Connell posted 10 points in the second half and completed the game with 17.

Tyler Small led Holy Trinity with 10 points in the fourth quarter. He finished the game with 14 points, all coming in the second half.

McGuire, who earned MVP honors, said heading into this game, they needed to step up on defense and improve on rebounding in order to win.

“In the regular season, those were our two biggest weaknesses,” McGuire said. “We really worked on that in this game. We rebounded the ball really well and played very good defense.”

Paul said he is proud of the boys’ hard work this season and they executed their game plan to perfection, earning them a championship.

“It’s really all about the boys,” Paul said. “They worked so hard and to see them get to enjoy this is why I’m so happy for them.”

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