Open the door Paul McMahon, Rob Dubose, Todd Wiliams, Kendall Chambers, Devan Hayes, Darryl Drayton, Lee Dease, and team members. You have company.
For the first time since 1987, the West Haven boys basketball team is state champions. The Westies are also the number one team in the state according to the GameTimeCT top 10 poll.
Behind 27 points and eight rebounds from Aaron Johnson, 20 points and seven rebounds from Loshon Roman, and 19 points and 12 rebounds from Jordan Sirabionian, West Haven outlasted top-seeded Staples 79-72 in three overtimes in the Division I final at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville.
The title was the first team championship at West Haven since Tommy Lawrence and company won the baseball championship over McMahon in 2009.
The title is also just the second in the history of the boys basketball team, joining the 1987 squad.
“Mission accomplished,” West Haven coach Tyrese Sullivan said in reference to the On A Mission slogan on the team’s warm-up jerseys after his team improved to 23-4.
“This group of young men is something special. Even though we have had a lot of success inside of Connecticut outside of the Notre Dame games, it’s been a challenging journey to get five to six guys who could be starters anywhere else to just buy in and play together. It’s really unheard of in this era of basketball. You don’t really see it much. For these guys to trust in me and allow me to coach them, allow me to correct them, allow me to just be a mentor, it means a lot. This is the fruit of our labor right here. I am just happy to be a part of it.”
The victory capped a week which saw the Westies finally beat cross-town rival Notre Dame after three losses this season, and the title win over previously undefeated Staples.
“We love it,” Sullivan said of being the underdog.
“I would rather be the hunter any day of the week than the prey. When we see people counting us out, it took us about five weeks to crack the Top 10, so we’ve been motivated all year by stuff like that. People just counting us out. Time and time again, these guys have proven themselves.”
In a game which had several dramatic twists and turns, free throws nearly derailed the second-seeded Westies and also stopped Staples from completing an undefeated season.
The Wreckers forced overtime with a Dhilan Lowman 3-pointer late in the fourth to even the game at 48.
West Haven had an opportunity to win the game in the final seconds of the fi rst overtime, but a pair of missed free throws in the final five seconds sent the game to a second overtime to decide the champion.
Johnson, who now joins his father, Aaron, with state championship rings, hit a pair of 3-pointers and followed with a field goal for a 65-60 lead, but Staples answered with a bucket and a Matthew Corrigon 3-pointer to even the game at 65 with 48 seconds remaining.
“I never had a ring before, so now I get the feeling,” Johnson said. “He had his ring already. This is my turn to get mine.”
Sirabionian hit one of two free throws for a 66-65 lead with 33 seconds left, giving Staples a chance for the title. The Wreckers could not convert, hitting just one of two free throws in the final seconds to send the game to a third overtime.
With the game even at 72, Roman’s bucket with 55 seconds remaining gave rhe Westies the lead for good at 74-72. Sirabionian and freshman Ricardo Harris each hit single free throws, before Sirabionian made sure the state championship was coming back to West Haven for the first time in 39 years when he sank all three free throws with three seconds remaining.
“We just stayed composed, we stayed together” Roman said. “We had no arguing. We stayed together. That’s the main thing. I feel like my team works hard every single day. We put together a lot of schemes, a of hard work in the gym every single time we step in, and I just feel like it showed on the court.”
“We had to make free throws and play defense,” Johnson said of the third overtime. “24 (Samson Clachko), he’s a great player. We had to key on him. We weren’t making our free throws or rotating the right way. But, we are just going to keep getting better and better.”
The game was a thriller from the start as Johnson’s 3-pointer gave West Haven a 7-2 first quarter lead, before Staples closed the quarter on a 14-6 run. The Wreckers then opened the second quarter on a 10-3 run for a 26-16 lead, but the resiliency of the Westies started to show.
Roman sandwiched buckets around a pair of field goals by Sirabionian and Johnson for an 8-0 run to close the half, gett ing the Westies within 26-24.
“A lot of people doubted us,” Roman said. “It just kept burning the fire in our hearts. We just kept going. Everyone doubted us and we kept going, kept pushing.”
West Haven opened the third quarter on a 12-6 run to take a 38-30 lead following a basket by Trew Kitson.
The Westies had one last fight in them after a 5-0 Staples run gave the Wreckers a 43-41 lead. A basket by Johnson and a 3-pointer by Harris gave West Haven a 46-43 lead with 3:50 to go in regulation, before Sirabionian’s basket with 2:40 left had the Westies on top 48-45.
The Westies pulled down 36 rebounds in the game, 28 coming on the defensive side.