See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Joseph Staszewski
Brooklyn Daily
A game-sealing charge was much more fitting end than any dramatic winning basket would have been for this Xaverian group.
It is exactly what the Clippers so got when Zack Bruno made the last gritty play on an unlikely championship run by drawing an offensive foul on Loughlin’s Tyrese Gaffney with nine-tenths of a second reaming in the game.
“I was able to take the most important charge in Xaverian history,” Bruno said.
The play sealed Xaverian’s 59–56 victory over Bishop Loughlin in the Catholic High School Athletic Association Class AA boys’ basketball final at Fordham University on March 13.
Before Bruno could celebrate the program’s first title since 2005 he had to shake off the pain of his already injured hip smashing against the floor. It epitomized the whatever-it-takes approach that propelled this group from a fourth-place finisher to city champs. This team is about heart.
“It tells you what that kid is,” said long-time Xaverian coach Jack Alesi. “He’s hurting. He’s not 100 percent, hasn’t been playing 100 percent. Season on the line, that’s what he did.”
The entire team showed that same desire to win after Loughlin (22–8) took a 44–32 lead on Idan Tretout’s three late with 2:02 left in the third quarter. The Clippers (19–11) caught a break when a foul was not called for Keith Williams taking a three, but then Jordan Guzman was fouled down the other end on a similar play
“That was huge,” Lions coach Ed Gonzalez said. “We were up. We had momentum and it was not a great foul [by us].”
The game’s momentum swung drastically after that. Xaverian went on a 16–1 run. Brandon Leftwich capped it with a three-point play to put the Clippers up 49–45 with 5:20 to go in the fourth.
“Everybody makes their run in the game,” said playoff most-valuable-player Nyonty Wisseh Wisseh, who jumped on the scorer’s table during the celebration. “They made their run, then we made our run to win the game.”
Strong free-hrow shooting and some timely Lions’ misses allowed Xaverian to hold on in the final minutes. A Bruno trey and two free-throws from Wisseh have Xaverian a 56–52 advantage with 1:04 to play.
Loughlin, which missed 12 free throws and shot just 3 of 17 from three had a chance to reclaim the lead late, but could not seize the moment. Tretout missed a long three and Gaffney could not get a layup to go with 25 seconds remaining. On the final possession Williams wasn’t able to get a good look at three and had to settle for the drive by Gaffney to the rim.
Gonzalez saw his team’s youth finally catch up to it after beating Xaverian all three of its previous meetings.
“We didn’t have it,” Gonzalez said. “They wanted to take it upon themselves instead of sticking to the game plan all the way to the end.”
Wisseh led Xaverian with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Bruno had 18 points. Leftwich chipped in 13. Markquise Nowell tallied 17 points and four assists to pace Loughlin and Williams chipped in 14 points. The Lions, with 12 rebounds from Jordan Thomas, never found a consistent third scorer.
The Clippers advance to the state Federation tournament to take on Aquinas in the semifinals March 18 at the Times Union Center in Albany. It was an experience Xaverian missed out on after losing to Christ the King in last year’s Catholic final with a senior-laden roster.
“Losing in the championship is one of the hardest things I’ve even been through,” Bruno said. “Getting this championship win today means everything.”
This time around the underdogs became top dogs.
“We were still under the radar until we won the city championship.” Wisseh said. “Now we are above the radar.”