Eagles Make History as 2011 State Champions

It was the ultimate capstone to a legendary season both for St. John’s Prep basketball and star senior Pat Connaughton — a championship ring, the first ever. True to form, the Eagles dominated the court Saturday night, pulling out all the stops in the third quarter to leave the Saint John’s Pioneers trailing by 20.

This year's state championship featured a battle of rarities as far as Massachusetts high school basketball goes. Richard Rodgers and the Pioneers went against Connaughton and the Eagles, and you would have thought it would have been a fairer fight; the Pioneers’ played out a 21-3 record through the playoffs, winning the Division I Central bracket, and this was the third consecutive state final game for the 2009 State Champions.

The Eagles, by comparison, hadn’t been to a state final since 1974 and didn’t make it past the Division I North Final last year, but they’ve played up to their No. 1 ranking all through the season and Connaughton (rated 91st on the ESPN top 100 high school basketball players) has stayed at the top of his game. Few opponents have stood a chance against the Prep squad this year and the school now has its first basketball state championship.

Connaughton, 6-5 and 205 pounds, finished Saturday’s game with 24 points, 11 rebounds and five assists and received the honors as State Player of the Year. He was also recently named Massaschusetts Gatorade Player of the Year and is a three-time Catholic Conference All-Star and two-time league MVP.

The next time we'll see him, it will be on television with “Irish” across his chest. Connaughton is bound for Notre Dame next year on a basketball scholarship (he’s also planning to continue playing baseball). If given the burn, he should be a factor against tough Big East competition for the next four years. 

Rodgers, the future Cal football star, started off an impressive individual night at the DCU Center in Worcester with a block on the Prep’s first shot attempt. He went into the paint early and often on his way to a game-high 26 points, adding 10 rebounds.

The score at the end of the first quarter was 13-11 in favor of the Prep, and after a back and fourth second quarter, the Eagles were able to extend their lead to 28-21 at the half.

The Eagles, following the pattern they have throughout the playoffs, explode after the break, causing numerous turnovers for the Pioneers and stretching their lead to over 20 points at times. The score was 58-39 at the end of three. Junior Steven Haladyna had 25 overall by that point and 18 of those points were scored in that quarter.

Pioneers’ junior Matt Palecki also finished with a double-double and senior Matt Harrington ended his high school career with a crowd-pleasing basket on the seat of his pants as time expired, but the Prep was too far ahead for it to make any difference in the outcome. The final score was 72-57.