Notre Dame Of Fairfield Wins SWC Boys Basketball Championship

With 19 seconds remaining in Thursday's South-West Conference championship game, Notre Dame of Fairfield boys basketball coach Vin Laczkoski began high-fiving the players on the Lancers' bench.

He know the school's championship drought was over, and so did all the Notre Dame fans in attendance at Weston High School.

Tournament MVP Dan Upchurch scored 17 points and Marcus Ortiz added 12 as the Lancers defeated Pomperaug 61-52 to claim their first SWC title in school history.

"We might not be the biggest team in the world," Laczkoski said in the Lancers' jubilant locker room, "but we're the toughest."

The Lancers (20-3),  who never trailed, took control of Thursday's contest early with an explosive start, jumping out to an 11-2 lead less than two minutes into the contest.

It was a 180-degree turn from their 57-54 semifinal win over Kolbe-Cathedral when the Lancers shot just 5-of-19 from the field in the first quarter.

On Thursday, however, Notre Dame couldn't miss early, hitting its first four shots, including three from behind the arc. Ortiz provided an immediate spark, scoring Notre Dame's first eight points.

"It's my last go-round, I'm going to go all out," Ortiz said. "I came in hot, shot the ball well and it went in."

Ortiz's early success had Pomperaug coach Dave Yachtis shaking his head.

"When we played them in the regular season, Marcus Ortiz didn't score any points and he comes up and scores the first eight points of the game," Yachtis said. "He's probably their fifth option on offense. He starts the game 8-0 on us (actually, it was 8-2)."

The victory was especially satisfying for Ortiz, the only senior in the Lancers' starting lineup who played on Notre Dame's team that lost to Bunnell in the SWC final two years ago.

"I've been here for four years," Ortiz said. "Sophomore year, we had an opportunity but we came up short. This was the second time around and we weren't going to let it go to waste. Senior year, I wanted to go all out and we got the win."

Andre Makris kept Pomperaug in the game with 23 points, but the Panthers never seriously challenged.

Brent Pelella, who added 13 points, and Makris each hit 3-pointers late in the first period to pull the Panthers within 17-13 before Notre Dame extended its lead to 28-21 at the intermission.

"We really jumped on them quick and then we were able to control the pace of the game," Laczkoski said. "That's big with us because they're such a good team and they're so big."

The Lancers also exploded out of the gate at the start of second half, as Arkel Miles' 3-point play capped a 9-0 run that made it 37-21 with 5:09 left in the third quarter. That was the Lancers' biggest lead of the night.

"You have to start with a lead," Upchurch said. "That's the only was to control a game, let them play our pace."

Falling behind forced the Panthers to play the game at Notre Dame's tempo, which is not something they wanted to do.

"We tried to play fast but under control but against that team, it's easier said than done because they force the tempo really well," Yachtis added.

Still, the Panthers didn't go down without a fight.

During a brief stretch in the fourth quarter, it appeared Notre Dame was playing against the clock, and the Panthers pulled within 54-49 on a free throw by Jake Belden with 3:37 remaining.

But the Lancers never lost their composure, holding Pomperaug scoreless until the final seconds. Notre Dame held on by making 7-of-10 free throws down the stretch.

Ortiz was still on the court when Laczkoski began the high-fives.

"He wanted to win just as badly as us, so it felt really great out there," Ortiz said.