Detroit— It’s been 15 years since Novi Detroit Catholic Central won the CHSL A-B boys basketball championship.
But it’s been twice as long for Shamrocks coach Bill Dyer.
“I’ve been chasing this for 30 years,” he said, shouting over the celebration of his players and fans in the aftermath of CC’s surprising, but thoroughly convincing, 62-51 victory over Warren De La Salle at the University of Detroit Mercy’s Calihan Hall.
“No one will be able to understand what this means to me.”
When senior Matt Doneth sank a triple midway in the first quarter to put CC ahead, 14-13, the Shamrocks never trailed again. The pivotal turn of events came in the second quarter: the Shamrocks scored 15 points — including a 10-0 run to close out the first half — to De La Salle’s three points (all on free throws) for a 32-19 halftime lead.
The Pilots came unraveled in that quarter, missing at least a dozen shots, and their superb forward, senior Connar Tava, was whistled for three fouls, forcing him to the bench.
Coach Greg Esler couldn’t recall when one of his teams scored only three points in a quarter. “The fouls hurt us. We lost our composure,” he said, but added: “CC played tough. They have a great coach. They were better than we were today.”
Justin Beal had nine points, and Brad Law, who fouled out late in the game, scored eight.
Dyer called the eight seniors on his squad “a great group.” Four seniors hit double figures: 14 each by Doneth (12 in the first half) and David Racey, and 10 apiece for Kyle Cooper and Richard Katkic.
Divisions C-D
Detroit— Michael Oravetz and Corey Green led the charge. Madison Heights Bishop Foley came out for the start of the second half, trailing Detroit Loyola by eight points.
An energized Oravetz sank four free throws, a basket and a triple, and in three minutes, the Ventures put together an 11-3 run to take their first lead in the game, 37-36.
“The championship was on the line,” he explained later about Bishop Foley’s resurgence.
Green was right alongside him. He took control of the backboards (13 rebounds for the game) to spark a defense that limited Loyola to just four points in the third quarter.
The Ventures persevered for a 59-53 victory, and now the CHSL C-D championship is in their trophy case, right next to last year’s trophy, the first in school history.
“We had to make a move,” said Bishop Foley coach Marc West, who has eight seniors on his roster, all of whom played in last year’s title game. “We were getting denied. We had to turn on the pressure. We had to take charge.”
