One year later, it's Knights' day
WORCESTER - The tables have been turned.
One year ago, Catholic Memorial suffered a late letdown in its MIAA Division 2 state title game and lost to undefeated Tantasqua. But with the teams battling in a championship rematch yesterday at the DCU Center, CM emphatically got its revenge.
Utilizing their trademark pressure defense to create points off turnovers, and getting a big game from senior forward Julian Colarusso (24 points, 13 rebounds), the Knights beat the Warriors, 74-56, to win the state title and end their opponent's two-year, 49-game winning streak.
Leading the charge was Colarusso, whose late technical foul helped trigger Tantasqua's winning run in last year's final. Given a second chance against the Warriors, he shined offensively and helped trigger several turnovers that kept CM ahead by a healthy margin throughout the game.
Knights coach Denis Tobin called Colarusso his "team's leader" after the game and he lived up to his billing.
"We lost to the same team [last year] and I had a big technical foul, so I'm very fortunate to get back here," Colarusso said. "This team just played unbelievable again. I can't even explain with words how happy I am right now. This is an unbelievable feeling."
"A double-double - he's done that all year," Tobin said of Colarusso. "He's just a terrific high school player."
Tantasqua hopped out to an 11-3 lead, but CM tightened up and used a 10-2 run to tie the score with a little less than two minutes left in the first quarter. The Knights' Jeff Tagger (10 points) drove into the paint for a layup with a minute to go to give CM the lead. After the Warriors turned it over, Tagger picked up an assist on Allen Harris's lay-in for a 17-13 lead that would stand at quarter's break.
CM's press continued to produce points off turnovers in the second quarter as the Knights opened with a 14-2 spurt that featured 8 points from Colarusso and 6 of senior guard Brendan Monteiro's 16. Tantasqua cut the lead to 38-26 with 40.7 seconds left in the half on a pair of free throws from Jake Gubitose, but back-to-back buckets from David Grant and Colarusso gave the Knights a 42-26 lead at halftime.
"We have good speed, so we try to use that to our advantage," Tagger said. "We try to make defense our offense, try to press up, speed the game up so they can play our game."
The Warriors started the third quarter on a 9-4 run and cut the lead to 48-39 thanks largely to the hot shooting of 6-foot-5-inch senior forward Bryan Vayda (21 points, 10 in the third). But in the final 2:22 of the quarter, CM got baskets from Colarusso, Grant, and Monteiro to stretch the lead to 54-39.
Catholic Memorial's lead billowed to 20 in the fourth.
"We've played teams with quickness, but I've got to be honest, we haven't played a team that quick," Warrior coach Jeff Child said. "We knew they were going to press and we worked extensively on breaking the press this week, but, you know, it is what it is."
For Tobin, it was a championship. And in his mind, it was vindication for his team's leader.
"In retrospect for Julian, he's such a better person and a better player this year, because of [last year's final]," he said. "It's unbelievable . . . I think that incident, I think he learned from it. That's what high school athletics is all about. Learning."
