Tony Chennault - By Paul Burdick
T.J. McConnell - By Paul Burdick
By Chris Rossetti
STATE COLLEGE – Inches.
That’s how close Chartiers Valley came to shocking the Pennsylvania basketball world.
But it wasn’t to be, as T.J. McConnell’s last second 3-pointer went off the front of the rim and the follow up was also short allowing Neumann-Goretti, ranked fifth in the country by MaxPreps.com, to claim its first PIAA Class AAA state title with a 65-63 win over the Colts Friday night at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center.
“It was definitely a tough one,” Neumann-Goretti head coach Carl Arrigale said. “It’s a big relief for everybody. I don’t know if anybody truly understands the pressure that on these guys every time they step on the court and the non-pressure that is on the other team who can just come out and cut it lose. These guys stood up to that all year. I’m not sure if it has sunk in yet.”
Going into the game, almost every expert didn’t give Chartiers Valley (29-2) even a slim chance to stay with the Saints (30-1), who featured four NCAA Division I recruits including Wake Forest-bound Tony Chennault. Even Colts head coach Tim McConnell said it was like playing a college team and that his squad might have a better chance beating Pitt.
But after a slow start, Chartiers Valley fought back and even grabbed the lead in the fourth quarter. The Colts were up 57-55 with 3:50 to play before Neumann-Goretti went on an 8-0 run to take a 63-57 lead with 53 seconds left. But even then Chartiers Valley didn’t quit staying in the game thanks to 3-pointers by Steve Burda and T.J. McConnell, who is headed to Duquesne, in the final 41 seconds with McConnell’s cutting the lead to 64-63 with 16 seconds left.
“I’m the proudest coach in the country right now,” Tim McConnell told his team after the game. “Nobody even gave you a chance to even compete. You got punched in the mouth, and I asked you to respond and you came out and showed you could play the best. They are ranked seventh in the country, not the state, the country. Am I disappointed, absolutely? But I’m going to remember this day four the rest of my life because of the warriors you were on that floor. I asked you to leave it all on the floor, and that’s exactly what you did. I told you before the game that your will I would take over their talent any day of the week and you willed yourselves out there. You played like Warriors.”
Early on it looked like Neumann-Goretti was going to pull away from Chartiers Valley opening a 20-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.
But the Colts responded cutting the lead to two, 32-30, at halftime and then quickly tying the game early in the second half. From that point on, Neumann-Goretti never led by more than sixt the rest of the way.
“I give them a world of credit,” Arrigale said. “They are a very good team, and they were even a little better than I thought. They played extremely hard. We jumped on them early, and they responded right away. Then I knew were in for a game.”
McConnell was the star of the night scoring 32 points to go with 12 rebounds while at times looking like the best of the five Division I recruits on the court.
“They couldn’t guard him,” Tim McConnell said. “On a stage like this, I thought T.J. proved he’s a player and he can play with them and do his thing.”
Chennault led the Saints with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Daniel Stewart added 17 points and 12 boards. The duo scored the first six points of the game-deciding 8-0 run.
“We are use to being in situations like that,” Chennault said. “We have been playing in hostile environments all throughout the year. This was nothing new for us.”
Despite the loss, Tim McConnell believed Chartiers Valley made a statement about Western Pennsylvania basketball.
“I think Western Pennsylvania basketball is being underrated,” Tim McConnell said. “I think (Western PA basketball) is awesome. I think we have some very good teams in Western Pennsylvania. We have some very good players. I’m just proud to represent the western side of the state, and the effort we did to night just shows that we can play with anyone.”