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| Sacred Heart survived a major scare from Windsor on Thursday night. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69, 2017 file) |
In last year’s Class L state tournament, Windsor led Sacred Heart in the fourth quarter at Alumni Hall and gave the eventual state champion all it could handle in a 58-52 quarterfinal.
The Warriors went even further on Thursday night at the University of Hartford’s Chase Arena and came oh so close to taking down the Hearts.
Fourth-seeded Sacred Heart showed the heart of a champion and rallied for a 59-58 victory over eighth-seeded Windsor. The Hearts have now won 107 straight games against in-state opponents. One round after taking down undefeated, top-seeded and top-ranked East Catholic, Windsor put a major scare into Sacred Heart. The Warriors played without Ty Welborn, according to reports from the game.
After Raheem Solomon hit a pair of foul shots to put Sacred Heart ahead 59-58, Windsor had a chance to win. Warrior sophomore Corey McKeithan, the hero of the East Catholic double overtime win, took a shot from the top of the key. He got a clean look, but the ball hit off the back left side of the rim and missed.
Sacred Heart will play in a fifth straight state final, and go for its fifth straight championship, on Sunday at 6 p.m. against No. 2 Notre Dame-Fairfield at the Mohegan Sun Arena. The game is a rematch of last year’s Class L final. It’s also the third straight final between the two schools.
