Luke Reilly remembers as a kid looking at a poster that featured his father Joe’s South Catholic varsity team that finished 25-1, concluding with a Class L state championship victory over Harding.
“When I first started coaching, I thought, ‘Man, how could you ever have a team with that kind of record?’” Luke Reilly thought at the time.
Reilly had won a pair of state championships and been in two other state finals during his tenure at East Catholic. And last year’s team actually finished at 25-1, but lost its only game in the Division I state quarterfinals at the buzzer in double overtime.
CIAC WINTER CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND SCOREBOARD
But there was no denying East Catholic this season. The Eagles finished 27-1, won the Division I title over Windsor Saturday night and finished No. 1 in the final Register/GameTimeCT Top 10 poll on Tuesday.
“To me at 27-1, the No. 1 team in the state of Connecticut, that’s as good as you can get,” Reilly said. “And it couldn’t happen to a more worthy group. I am humbled by that and super proud.”
East Catholic received all 20 first-place votes from the state media representatives and finished with 600 points.
Windsor, the only team to defeat East Catholic this season in the CCC tournament final, finished second with 542 points, followed by Division II state champion Waterford (524), Sacred Heart (424) and Bassick (386), both teams losing in the Division I quarterfinals.
East Catholic was No. 2 in the poll for most of the season by Sacred Heart. It gained on the Hearts as the season went on, but fell to third heading into the CIAC state tournament after the loss to Windsor.
Final 2018-19 GameTimeCT Boys Basketball Top 10
TEAM (1st place votes) | REC | PTS | LAST | CLASS |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1. EAST CATHOLIC (20) | 27-1 | 600 | 3 | I |
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| Final 2018-19 result:def. Windsor 79-74 to win Division I championship. The Bottom Line: The Eagles avenged their only loss by defeating the Warriors in what was an electric, uptempo Division I final Saturday night. |
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 | 2. WINDSOR | 24-4 | 542 | 4 | I |
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| Final 2018-19 result: lost to East Catholic 79-74 in Division I final. The Bottom Line: Wth guards Corey McKeithan and Amir Spears expected back, Warriors could be looking at the preseason No. 1 slot. |
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 | 3. WATERFORD | 26-1 | 524 | 5 | II |
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| Final 2018-19 result: def. New Britain 63-56 to win Division II championship.The Bottom Line: Division III champions last year, Division II champions this year, Division I champions next year? | |||||||
 | 4. SACRED HEART | 23-2 | 424 | 1 | I |
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| Final 2018-19 result: lost to Trumbull 73-66 in Division I quarterfinals. The Bottom Line:This was the first time since 2013 the Hearts did not reach a state final. |
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 | 5. BASSICK | 20-2 | 386 | 2 | I |
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| Final 2018-19 results: lost to Windsor 82-65 in Division I quarterfinals. The Bottom Line: It’s a pretty good season when your only two losses come against the state’s two best teams. |
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 | 6. FARMINGTON | 23-4 | 362 | NR | III |
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| Final 2018-19 result: def. Amistad 55-45 to win Division III championship.The Bottom Line: Playing in the state’s best conference (the CCC) prepared the Indians for a run to their first state championship and first appearance in a final in 80 years. | |||||||
 | 7. IMMACULATE | 21-5 | 315 | NR | I |
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| Final 2018-19 result:lost to Windsor 71-62 in Division I semifinals. The Bottom Line: Beating the FCIAC champ (Ridgefield) and Notre Dame-West Haven landed the Mustangs in the semis, where they hung tough against a fine Windsor squad. |
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 | 8. TRUMBULL | 20-5 | 276 | 10 | I |
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| Final 2018-19 result: lost to East Catholic 86-58 in Division I semifinals. The Bottom Line: Eagles won 20 games twice over the past three seasons. |
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 | 9. NEW BRITAIN | 20-7 | 279 | NR | II |
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| Final 2018-19 result:lost to Waterford 63-56 in Division II final. The Bottom Line: Like Farmington, Hurricanes geared up for this postseason run by playing in the state’s best league night in and night out. |
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 | 10. NOTRE DAME-WEST HAVEN | 22-3 | 268 | 6 | I |
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| Final 2018-19 result: lost to Immaculate 53-46 in Division I quarterfinals. The Bottom Line: The Green Knights finish in the top 10 for the second time in the past three seasons. |
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| Dropped out: Cromwell (8), Wamogo (9) and Glastonbury (10). First-place votes in parentheses and points tabulated on a 30-28-26-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10-9-8-7 basis. | |||||||
| Others receiving votes: New Canaan (20-5) 221; Glastonbury (21-5) 203; Manchester (20-6) 161; Innovation (24-2), 148; Cromwell (23-1), 87; Amistad (18-7), 55; Granby (23-4), 47; Wamogo (23-1), 44; Ridgefield (17-7), 28; Prince Tech (23-3), 25; East Hartford (14-8), 18; Old Lyme (21-6), 16; Wilton (18-6), 10; Bunnell (20-6), 9; Classical Magnet (21-3), Simsbury (16-8) and Torrington (19-7), 7. | |||||||
| The following voted: Paul Augeri, Middletown Press; Bill Bloxsom, Milford/Trumbull Pubs; Mike DiMauro, The Day of New London; Scott Ericson, Stamford Advocate; Dave Grant, WATR-AM; Larry Kelley, Norwich Bulletin; Sean Krofssik, Record-Journal; Mike Madera, GameTimeCT; Kyle Maher, Journal-Inquirer of Manchester; Shawn McFarland, Hartford Courant; Joe Morelli, New Haven Register; Keith O'Brien, Game Day CT Sports; John Pierson, WTNH; Joe Palladino, Republican-American; Dave Phillips, Shore Line Newspapers; Marc Robbins, CT Sports Now; Dave Ruden, The Ruden Report; Ben Talbott, Bird’s Eye Sports; Richard Zalusky, The Chronicle; Joe Zone, WFSB. Poll Compiled by Joe Morelli |
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