Move to 4A no problem as Charlotte Catholic boys take Southwestern 4A championship
The Charlotte Catholic Cougars used a 10-0 run late in the third quarter to break open a close game and win the Southwestern 4A basketball tournament with a 56-42 win over East Meck on Friday night at Independence High School.
Catholic maintained a steady lead but didn’t pull away until late. The Cougars got early baskets from Pat Tivnan and led 29-23 at halftime.
East made a push in the third quarter, when a Jonah Lawrence 3-point shot with 3:56 left trimmed the lead to 35-31.
After a timeout, however, Tivnan found Josh Williams open for a 3 that he drained, then on the next possession Kevin Williams made a steal and went in for a dunk and that keyed a 10-0 run that pushed the lead to 45-31 after the third.
“That was a big moment,” Catholic coach Mike King said. “Pat made a great read to find Josh for the three, then Kevin might’ve made the play of the game by making that steal and dunk. He hasn’t played probably as much as he’d like this season, but he was ready when we needed him.”
The lead swelled to 17 at 52-35 before East Meck (17-10) made a late push to try and come back. Leading scorer Jordon Nevill, who had only hit one basket up until the fourth, scored seven points in 55 seconds but the lead never got under 12.
THREE WHO MATTERED
Pat Tivnan, Charlotte Catholic: Scored a game-high 17 points for the Cougars, with seven of them coming during a stretch late in the first quarter that turned a tie score into a nine-point Catholic lead.
Jonah Lawrence, East Meck: Scored a team-high 15 for the Eagles and helped keep them in the game with four three-point field goals.
Vaughn Thomas, Charlotte Catholic: Scored Catholic’s first six points of the game en route to 14 points.
Worth Mentioning
The top two seeds in the tournament — Butler and Rocky River — played a game earlier in the afternoon to decide who would get the top seed from the conference in the state 4A tournament. Rocky River won 45-41. Butler will need to hope for an at-large postseason berth.
Catholic controlled the boards and the paint in general, as the Cougars scored 44 of their 56 points from either two-point range or from the free-throw line compared to just 15 points from East Meck, which stayed in the game by hitting nine 3-pointers as a team.
East Meck leading scorer Jordon Nevill left the game early in the third quarter after taking a charge and being evaluated for a concussion. He returned late in the quarter and finished the game.
Coach King made a point of saying the team was playing with heavy hearts as last weekend a Holy Trinity Middle School student died tragically and King was dedicating the title to the family.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 11:24 PM.
