Bloomfield Hills – There’s joy in DeLaSalle-ville today!

A buzzer-beater three-point bomb by Connar Tava saved the Pilots from Warren from being knocked out of the CHSL Boys Championship tournament and spurred them on to a thrilling 57-48 overtime victory over Novi Detroit Catholic Central last night.

DeLaSalle advances to the A-B championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday at the University of Detroit’s Calihan Hall.

The opposition will be determined at 7:30 p.m. tonight when U-D Jesuit tangles with Orchard Lake St. Mary’s as semifinal action continues at Bloomfield Hills Marian High School.

In the C-D bracket, Madison Heights Bishop Foley disposed of Royal Oak Shrine, 73-55. The Ventures will play the winner of tonight’s 6 p.m. tip-off between Detroit Loyola and Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes. The championship game will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, also on the University of Detroit campus.

Pilots 57, Shamrocks 48 (OT)



Only 3.2 seconds remained on the clock, and it didn’t look promising for DeLaSalle with Catholic Central in-bounding the ball at mid-court, leading 44-41.

Matt Doneth tossed the ball in the direction of Kyle Cooper, waiting to receive it at the top of the 3-point arc on CC’s half of the court. Alertly, 6-foot-6 Tava, who was guarding 6-foot-7 Cooper, circled to his left to intercept the pass, took maybe 4-5 dribbles and launched a 27-foot shot that was all net as the buzzer sounded – and DLS’s bench and fans erupted in happy disbelief.

"I’ve always told the kids to play to the horn," said DLS coach Greg Esler.

Later, when asked what his message was to the players in a very somber locker room, Shamrocks coach Bill Dyer deadpanned: "Don’t have the coach draw up a play."

Given a new lease on life, Tava opened the overtime with a similar heads-up play, stealing the ball under CC’s basket and racing the court to put in a rebound and give the Pilots a 46-44 lead.

CC’s Shea Kettner re-tied the game with a pair of free throws, only to see it un-tied on a three-point shot from the corner by the Pilots’ Sterling Johnson.

In the last frenzied minute of the game, DLS connected on eight straight free throws – two by Vaughn Avecilla and a pair by Marc Wouters to raise the score to 53-46, and following a Shamrock basket by Richard Katkic, four more by Johnson.

Ironically, the game’s outcome was decided by free throws, too, in the fourth quarter. DLS missed the front ends of three one-and-one opportunities, and Katkic missed two free throws with 14 seconds left in regulation and CC ahead, 44-41.

DLS started out with a 12-3 first quarter lead. Prodded by Dyer to "attack the basket" and "be more aggressive," the Shamrocks took control in the second quarter, going on a 21-5 run, to build a 24-19 halftime lead. Doneth’s second of two triples put CC ahead , 19-17, for the first time in the game.

Senior center Brandon Tammaro pumped in three baskets to pace a 13-4 run to open the third quarter and expand CC’s lead to 14 points, 37-23, with 2:35 to play.

Johnson’s triple and three free throws and a basket by Brad Law sliced the lead to 37-31 heading into the final eight minutes.

Baskets by Tava and Law reduced the deficit for DLS to 39-35 with 5:07 remaining.

Then, the teams went into a funk. For almost four minutes, the Shamrocks and Pilots were shooting blanks. At least eight field goal attempts were muffed by both sides. Critical turnovers by CC and DLS’ inability to make free throws served to set the stage for the gut-churning finish.

Avecilla’s triple and basket and Deneth’s pair of free throws brought the score to 44-41.

And you know the rest of the story.

Tava had a game-high 18 points, Johnson wound up with 15. Daneth led CC with 12, Kettner added 10, and Tammaro 9.

Ventures 73, Knights 55



For all practical purposes, the outcome of the game was settled in the first quarter.

Bishop Foley’s talented 6-foot-3 senior Jordan Walker scored 10 (of his eventual game-high 24) points from mid-range and left the rebounding to 6-foot-4 junior forward Corey Green, who controlled the boards and chipped in four points on his way to an 18-point night.

"Their size causes problems for us," said Shrine coach Mike Massucci. "We’re a small team, and we’re forced to play a near-perfect game."

After a 22-14 first quarter lead, the Ventures increased it to 12 points at the half, 13 after three quarters, and the final 18-point spread.

Guard Michael Oravetz had 15 for Foley. Guard Blake Washington led Shrine with 21. Also in double figures were Bertram Marks with 12 and Lorenzo Dewberry with 11.

This was the third time Bishop Foley has defeated Shrine this year – and they’ll meet a fourth time next Monday in the opening night of the state district play-offs.