Cathedral survives NCC's bid at the finish
North Cambridge Catholic and Cathedral left their hearts on the parquet floor of TD Banknorth Garden for the first 31 minutes 56 seconds of the state Division 4 boys' basketball championship game yesterday, all for the opportunities the last four seconds would offer.
At the end of those four seconds, Cathedral had dethroned North Cambridge Catholic, 67-65.
Trailing by 2 points, North Cambridge Catholic (18-7) fouled Luis Tavares, sending him to the line in a last-ditch effort to keep its repeat aspirations alive.
Tavares missed both, with the second landing in the hands of North Cambridge Catholic's Eddie Maiben. He dribbled to half-court and launched a pinpoint pass to senior Brandon Bowman, who had one second to tie the game.
Bowman left his feet and let the ball roll off his right hand, then watched as it took a bounce off the glass and dribbled off the front of the rim. Bowman crumpled to the floor, surrounded by ecstatic opponents and mournful teammates.
"I had a dream last night that I was going to make the shot," said Bowman. "Missed it today."
His coach knew Bowman's contribution to that point was one reason he had the chance in the first place.
"We wouldn't have been in that spot without Brandon," said Daniel Salazar. "I had to tell him I love him, because I do."
Bowman sparked North Cambridge Catholic in the second half, scoring 9 of his 19 points while first-half leader Robinson Vilmont was struggling.
Vilmont, who scored 16 in the first half but just 5 the rest of the way, was smothered by Cathedral's Max Barbosa. At halftime, Barbosa went to coach Carnel Suttles and asked to guard Vilmont, whom Barbosa knew from AAU play.
"Being a team leader, I had to go do it," said Barbosa, who had 16 points. "I wanted to stop him. I'm not going to let nobody outdo me in a championship game."
"We put a shooter on a shooter," said Suttles. "We didn't want to lose our offense in order to play defense on him, but it worked out well."
North Cambridge Catholic was up by 6 with just over four minutes left, but by the time junior John Flakes grabbed an offensive rebound and made a foul shot following a putback with 2:31 left, Cathedral had tied the game at 62.
Flakes, who scored a team-high 17 points, then got fouled and hit two free throws.
Flakes hit another foul shot with 18 seconds left, giving Cathedral (21-3) a 67-65 edge. At the other end, Vilmont tried an off-balance three but shot too strong, leading to the foul on Tavares.
"Not everyone can win a championship," said Barbosa, repeating what he had said earlier to Bowman, his middle school friend. "But still, I'm so happy to have won a championship with my family."
