MONROE — In order to be the best you must beat the best, that is exactly what an undaunted and unwavering Kolbe Cathedral did Thursday night to capture its first SWC Boys Basketball title since 2006.
The No. 2 seeded Kolbe was tasked with facing a goliath in No.1 Immaculate, a team which had previously not lost a single game to an SWC opponent all season and was riding a 21-game winning streak into the championship game.
Kolbe battled to a 63-57 victory to take its first title in 14 years, after losing in its previous three championship game appearances (2007, 2008 and 2014).
SWC BOYS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT BRACKET
“I feel great obviously,” Kolbe Cathedral coach John Pfohl said. “I am really proud of my kids. If you think about it, we lost our first two games to start the year, we had to battle through a bunch of stuff early to be 6-4 and we see ourselves here in the championship game against a great Immaculate team.”
Highlights from Kolbe Cathedral’s SWC clinching 63-57 win over Immaculate #ctbb pic.twitter.com/Xs1q757x8F
— Will Aldam (@AldamWill) March 6, 2020
Jalen Sullivan and his Kolbe teammates were up for the task however, corralling the Mustangs as the game came down to the wire.
Sullivan was named tournament MVP, scoring 14 points in the final. Ty Staple-Santos scored 14 and Daniel Wellington tallied 11.
“We haven’t won the SWC since 2006,” Sullivan said. “It feels good to be a part of that memory that will be a part of our school forever…I feel like I have been doing a great job at what I’m doing. I love our team a lot. I couldn’t do this without them, I’ve got their backs and they’ve got mine.”
Kolbe came out hot, racing out to a 21-12 lead in the first quarter, but found itself trailing 30-29 at the end of the half after a 13-0 Immaculate run.
Kolbe Cathedral leads Immaculate 45-42 after Q3 #ctbb
Masuk and Kolbe students have joined forces to root against a common enemy pic.twitter.com/PwB9Kc8H83
— Will Aldam (@AldamWill) March 6, 2020
“We are so young,” Pfohl said. “You don’t know in this spot how exactly they are going to handle it. That was the big surprise for me where we came out really quick and got after it and then for them to come back the way they did in the second quarter and for us to not fold. That is what I was concerned about, that our youth would take over and it didn’t. They just kept battling and battling and their effort at their age, and their composure down the stretch was just amazing.”
Kolbe grinded through the third quarter to take a 45-42 lead into the final eight minutes.
Holding a 59-57 lead late in the fourth, Kolbe responded to the Immaculate fouls with strong free throw shooting to solidify its championship run.
Kolbe Cathedral celebrates SWC #ctbb championship over Immaculate. pic.twitter.com/AiINpsFp1u
— GameTimeCT (@GameTimeCT) March 6, 2020
“We get up in the game, they come back,” Pfohl said. “We kind of handled that somehow got ahead again and they come back and to finish it off with those big free throws, I’m really happy for the kids.”
Immaculate has now lost in the finals for the third year in a row and in four of the last five years.
“Kolbe is very good, obviously John Pfohl is a great coach and they are a well coached team,” Immaculate coach Nelson Mingachos said.
“They took it to us in the first half. We got down by 10 and we finally got the lead at halftime. If a couple of our shots go in like they did in the season it’s a different ballgame, but credit to them, they stayed under control, had good poise and made their foul shots at the end of the game. They were the better team then us today, no question.”
Immaculate’s season is not finished as the No. 7 team in the GameTimeCT Top 10 Poll will look for redemption in the state tournament.
“We’ll go from here,” Mingachos said. “There is basketball left ahead of us, let’s see what happens. We’ll make a run at this state tournament and hopefully we’ll have a chance at another championship.”
