Detroit — It’s been 15 years since Novi Detroit Catholic Central won the CHSL A-B boys basketball championship.

But it’s been twice as long for Shamrocks coach Bill Dyer.

“I’ve been chasing this for 30 years,” he said, shouting over the celebration of his players and fans in the aftermath of CC’s surprising, but thoroughly convincing, 62-51 victory over Warren De La Salle at the University of Detroit Mercy’s Calihan Hall.

“No one will be able to understand what this means to me.”

A participant and a spectator of Catholic League sports since his youth — Plymouth Our Lady of Good Counsel CYO, Dearborn Divine Child High School — he was an assistant coach at Divine Child for eight years under current CYO Director Joe Charnley.

“He was my mentor,” Dyer said.

After a stint at Livonia Stevenson, he took over the basketball reins at Catholic Central five years ago, something he called a “dream job.”

His only other appearance in the CHSL finals at Catholic Central was in 2009, a loss to De La Salle. There have been a number of regular season losses over the years to the Pilots, too, including a couple this year: a blowout on the Shamrocks’ floor and a two-point squeaker.

“This is a great rivalry,” Dyer said. “We talked about taking it from them” — “it” being De La Salle’s opportunity for a fourth consecutive CHSL championship, tying the Pilots with the Catholic Central teams of 1948-52.

When senior Matt Doneth sank a triple midway in the first quarter to put CC ahead, 14-13, the Shamrocks never trailed again. The pivotal turn of events came in the second quarter: the Shamrocks scored 15 points — including a 10-0 run to close out the first half — to DeLaSalle’s three points (all on free throws) for a 32-19 halftime lead.

The Pilots came unraveled in that quarter, missing at least a dozen shots, and their superb forward, senior Connar Tava, whistled for three fouls forcing him to the bench.

Coach Greg Esler couldn’t recall when one of his teams scored only three points in a quarter. “The fouls hurt us. We lost our composure,” he said, but added: “CC played tough. They have a great coach. They were better than we were today.”

Justin Beal had nine points and Brad Law, who fouled out late in the game, scored eight.

Dyer called the eight seniors on his squad “a great group.” Four seniors hit double figures: 14 each by Doneth (12 in the first half) and David Racey, and 10 apiece for Kyle Cooper and Richard Katkic.