Inside both locker rooms after Tuesday’s City Tournament championship, there were mixed emotions.
Cathedral, fresh off cutting down the nets and celebrating a seventh City title in 10 years, knows it can play better than it did in the semifinal and championship rounds of the tourney, the latter a 65-58 win over Scecina in a game played at Cathedral instead of Tech due to schedule changes caused by the weekend snowstorm.
“We were right there with Crown Point and lost by three, had every chance in the world to beat Carmel, and Princeton (Ohio) is a really good veteran group,” Cathedral coach Jason Delaney said of the three teams to defeat the Class 3A second-ranked Irish (13-3) this season. “You can look at that, but you have to put the action behind it. You can’t come out and have slow starts and not come out super focused. That’s where we have to mature a little more.”
In the Scecina locker room, sophomore guard Ian Collins chided coach Jim Stanbrough for using the word “compete.” As in, “We can compete with programs like Cathedral.” The Class 2A Crusaders (11-5), seeded third in the tournament, rallied from a 16-point fourth-quarter deficit to pull as close as four with 48.8 seconds remaining.
This was not a “just glad to be here” moment for Scecina, a program that had not been to the City finals since 2015. The Crusaders rolled into the finals with a 29-point win over a second-seeded Crispus Attucks’ team on Saturday that was missing two starters due to injury.
“I just got reprimanded for saying the word ‘compete’ in the locker room,” Stanbrough said. “We can compete with these teams. We’re in the same ballpark. I’m proud of what they did. You don’t see Scecina very often in this game.”
Scecina, like Cardinal Ritter did to Cathedral in the semifinal on Saturday (a game the Irish rallied to win, 67-54), landed the first punch. The Crusaders led 7-0 and 11-3 before Cathedral tightened the pressure on defense and appeared to take control of the game, extending a 30-22 halftime lead to 18 late in the third quarter.
“We got warmed up,” said Cathedral senior Keaton Aldridge, who led the Irish with 20 points. “(Delaney) was harping on, ‘Defense will make offense.’”
Cathedral led 51-35 early in the fourth before Scecina made its run. Collins scored, then Bryce Mathis and Caleb Davis drilled 3-pointers to cut Cathedral’s lead to 53-43 with 4:47 left. Jaylin Foster, a 6-5 sophomore, started getting downhill, scoring 10 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter to help the Crusaders pull within four on two Mathis free throws with 48.8 seconds left.
But that would be as close as Scecina would get. The Crusaders shot just 15-for-30 from the free-throw line. Aldridge scored 17 of his 20 points in the final three quarters to lead Cathedral. Julien Smith added 11 points.
“You look at (Aldridge’s) stat line every single game and he not only has points, he has double digit rebounds, a ton of assists and a ton of steals,” Delaney said. “There’s not a moment he doesn’t give you everything he’s got.”
It is the ninth City title for Delaney, who won two at Tech prior to coming to Cathedral and winning seven more. Cathedral had its hands full with Cardinal Ritter and Scecina in back-to-back games. The only other program to win a City title during this 10-year stretch is Crispus Attucks with three championships.
“I remember when I coached at Washington and when I first got to Tech, getting to the final four (of the city) and winning one was a big, big deal to us,” Delaney said. “I said at halftime, ‘Most of you guys have never won a varsity tournament. You have to get winning in your DNA and know what it’s like to win championships. Hopefully this helps. But those teams we played, hats off to them because they have goals and they came to win this thing. That’s good for the City. It’s nice to see these other programs start to get to the point where they are challenging us.”
Stanbrough, a longtime assistant at Lawrence North before coming to Scecina, said the tournament run will only matter if the Crusaders can continue to build off the momentum. Scecina hosts Indiana Crossroads Conference rival Heritage Christian (9-4) on Friday and plays at sectional foe Park Tudor next week.
Mathis led Scecina with 15 points.
“I’m proud of what they did,” Stanbrough said. “We competed until the end. It gives us something we can kind of put in our hat, but you still have to perform.”
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.Get IndyStar's high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Cathedral wins City Tournament championship with win over Scecina
