HERSHEY, Pa. – Roman Catholic proved it’s not how you start but how you finish.
The Cahillites trailed Pittsburgh City League champion Allderdice 10-0 5 ½ minutes into the game and 17-10 at the end of the first quarter but rallied to beat the Dragons 73-62 and win their second straight PIAA Class AAAA boys’ title Saturday night at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Still down 22-16 three minutes into the second quarter, Roman went on a game-changing 13-2 run that featured six points from Lamar Stevens, and it went into the lockerroom up three, 33-30.
Allderdice got within one, 39-38, on a Ramon Creighton 3-pointer early in the third quarter, but the Cahillites answered with an 8-0 run that was capped off by a dunk by Stevens, his 16th and 17th points of the game, to push the lead to nine, 47-38, with just under three minutes left in the quarter.
The lead then reached double digits, 55-44, by the end of the quarter, and Roman continued to keep the lead in double digits through most of the fourth quarter.
Free throws were the difference in the game, really from the start. Roman went 24 of 32 from the line while Allderdice was 4 of 8. The Dragons got into early foul trouble and never really recovered.
The Cahillites also were able to turn 14 Allderdice turnovers into 18 points.
Stevens had a game-high 27 points to go with seven rebounds, while Nazeer Bostick added 15 points and Tony Carr 13 points and eight rebounds.
James Jackson led Allderdice with 21 points and six rebounds, and Creighton, who scored his 1,000th career point later in the fourth quarter, added 19 points.
