Cardinal Newman boys battle back to bring home state title

Trinity Byrnes’ 14-3 scoring run near the end of the third quarter could have meant the end for Cardinal Newman’s boys team in the SCISA 3A finals Saturday.

Like the girls team, which rallied to finish off a 60-53 title defense victory over Northwood, the Cardinals boys had to maintain and keep pushing toward the net.

Cardinal Newman overcame a second-half deficit and held off Trinity Byrnes 52-49 to claim the 3A state crown.

“When it gets to an end of a game like that, two great teams go back and forth,” Cardinals head coach Philip Deter said. “Clutch players make good shots, you have to finish possessions. We told them to finish everything. If they finish everything, it’s gonna be a little easier down the stretch.”

Silas Christie led the way with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

“We lost to this team earlier this season and we found a way to get it back,” Christie said. “They have great players over there, and they competed hard, but we knew what we had to do to get the W.”

Thomas Tyler added 14 points and Josh Beadle had 13.

Trinity Byrnes led 38-32 early in the fourth, but a Beadle basket sparked a 10-0 run that he finished off with an alley-oop layup with 3:35 left in the game. That shot put the Cardinals up 42-38, but there was much basketball to play.

Amarian Coletrain’s layup-and-one cut the lead down to one a few seconds later. When Cardinal Newman’s L.J. White sank a 3-pointer and Silas Christie added a basket, the Titans’ Jordan Jones answered with a basket and a 3.

Soon after, with Cardinal Newman clinging to a 47-46 lead with 1:15 to play, Payton Cooper rolled in a shot, and Trinity Byrnes turned the ball over on the next possession.

With 24 seconds left, White hit two free throws to give the Cardinals a 51-46 lead. He took the line again with five seconds left to add another foul shot.

“They’re prepared for this,” Deter said. “It’s helpful to have that (preparation) when they want to get out and play defense and finish plays.”

Those free throws made Jones’ 3 at the final buzzer meaningless, as the Cardinal Newman players and students stormed the court.

“That’s what we do, we take care of the ball,” Deter said. We didn’t do a good job of it in the first half, we did a better job of it in the second half.”

C: Silas Christie 16, Thomas Tyler 14, Josh Beadle 13, White 5, Cooper 4. T: Jordan Jones 17, Nick Ford 16, Scott 6, McLeod 3, Ellis 2, Saragba 2.