The Holy Cross boys basketball team may have lost the NVL tournament final, 73-54, to Naugatuck on Wednesday night in front of a standing-room-only crowd at Wilby High School, but it made a great run just to get there.
The Crusaders entered as the fourth seed and knocked off fifth-seeded St. Paul, 81-69, in the quarterfinal round last Saturday at Wilby. Monday night brought a third meeting with top-seeded Sacred Heart, which was undefeated on the season, 21-0, and hadn’t lost an NVL game in its last 125 tries.
Holy Cross saved its biggest win of the season for the game against its archrival. As the Crusaders pulled ahead in the third quarter, the fans gathered behind the team’s bench could feel the momentum shifting to the dark green and gold. When Arthur Pappas connected for a conventional three-point play with 4:23 remaining, Holy Cross led Sacred Heart, 58-52.
The Hearts had come back from deficits on several different occasions during the season, but the Crusaders never let them get closer than three points. Holy Cross struggled from the line in the fourth quarter, but knocked down enough of them to close out the win and end Sacred Heart’s 125-game NVL win streak.
The Crusaders waited until they got to the locker room to celebrate, and celebrate they did. When coach Ryan Olsen came out to be interviewed, his shirt was drenched from being doused with water by his players.
Holy Cross was in the NVL final at halftime, trailing by just four points at 30-26. Just like Waterbury Career Academy in the semifinal round, however, the Crusaders were blitzed by a major Naugatuck run to begin the second half and never recovered. Olsen was disappointed to be the runner-up for the third time in his four years as head coach, but the Crusaders still worked hard to reach the final.
Holy Cross (17-6) enters the Division II state tournament as its No. 5 seed and will host No. 28 Kennedy (8-12) next Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. in a second round matchup.
Photo caption: Holy Cross’ Drevon Yeldell (4) sets a pick for teammate Kyle Lombardi during Wednesday night’s NVL tournament final against Naugatuck at Wilby High School. (Copyright, Sports on CT-69)
Gallery
Here are my photos of Holy Cross from the NVL final.
