Kolbe Escapes With SWC Quarterfinal Win Over Brookfield

In a rematch of a game won earlier in the season by the Bobcats, No.4 Kolbe Cathedral (15-6, 12-3) was able to turn the tables on No. 5 Brookfield (13-8, 9-6) in the opening round of the SWC Playoffs held at Pomperaug High School.  Although the Cougars led by 12 points with three minutes remaining in the game, the Bobcats had four chances to tie the score in the final minute but couldn’t capitalize as they fell 60-56.

“The guys are pumped up,” Kolbe Cathedral head coach and former UConn Husky shooting guard Chris Smith said of his team facing a squad that had defeated them 57-54.  “Everybody was saying in the paper that they are going to beat us.  We believe in ourselves, we had a good year, we lost three games in the conference and nobody is looking at us, they must be crazy.”

“It was nice to make the SWCs but that wasn’t our goal,” Brookfield head coach Wayne Thrall said of his team enjoying the first winning season since 2004-05.  “Our goal was to make a run in the SWCs, we weren’t satisfied with just being here.”

Senior captain Nick Paez, who was the games high scorer with 23 points was unable to get off a shot in the Bobcats final possession as he lost the ball to the Kolbe defense. Junior Danny Burkhart and sophomore Ryan Korb both were unable to connect from three-point land before the final turnover ended the game.

“I’m sure people will second guess the fact that I probably should have called a timeout,” Thrall said of the final possession that came on in an inbounds play after the two misses. “But our whole offensive philosophy is based upon taking people off the dribble and we didn’t exactly execute that like we have the last seven or eight games.”

Trailing 57-45, Brookfield mounted its comeback. Junior center Ralph Schatz scored on a layup before Paez hit his third three-pointer of the game to cut the lead to seven. Schatz then tipped in a miss on one end and came up with a big-time block on the other end, setting up Paez for a layup that cut the lead to three points with 1:34 remaining.

The Bobcats began strong, as they were led by senior captain Austin Yusko, who scored nine of his 12 points in the first quarter. Yusko buried a three-pointer before the buzzer to give Brookfield a 15-10 lead heading into the second quarter.

Kolbe turned up the defense in the second as their full-court press caused havoc for the Bobcats. 

“The first time we went to the full court press the whole game and we got into foul trouble,” Smith said of the previous matchup. “I wanted the guys to feel it out and put it in sporadically. I wanted to make sure we had enough time to press, take it back, press, take it back just to get a nice little lead.”

The Cougars were able to capitalize on Bobcat turnovers as they went on a 13-0 run to take a 27-17 lead. Kolbe’s leading scorer D.J. Perry was the catalyst in the run, scoring 10 of his team high 17 points in the run.

“Well D.J. just got to stay aggressive,” Smith said of Perry, who averages over 20 points a game. “When he’s aggressive he’s one of the best players in the SWC. D.J. is a shooter, he likes to rely on his jump shot but he can get to the hole. That’s what I’ve been trying to get him to work on and that’s what he did tonight.”

Paez responded with a run of his own. He scored seven straight points for Brookfield to end the quarter, pulling the Bobcats to within three points as they went into halftime trailing 27-24.

“He’s a very good player,” Thrall said of Paez. “He stepped it up for an important game.”

Paez tied the game to start the second half with a three-pointer, his second of the game. Yusko hit his second three-pointer shortly after to pull Brookfield to within 33-30 as they traded baskets with the Cougars.

“This team's good,” Smith said of Brookfield.  “Number 23 [Paez] had a great game and number 11 [Yusko] had a great game. When their guards are shooting like that they can beat anybody.”

Kolbe got a big lift in the third quarter from bench player Rob Pinnock, who scored six points. The team had contributions from six players in the quarter as they outscored Brookfield 18-14.

“I don’t think you saw the same team that I’ve been  coaching the last month,” Thrall said of his team that was riding a seven game winning streak. “There seemed to be a disconnect on the defensive end. We gave up some easy buckets. It’s really too bad that we played defense like we have been playing for the last month in the last two and half minutes of the game and not the first 30.”

The Bobcats defense took a big hit as Schatz picked up his third and fourth foul, sending him to the bench with 1:34 left in the third. Schatz also had to sit in the second quarter after picking up his second foul, giving the Cougars their opening to score in the lane.

“He’s obviously the anchor of our defense,” Thrall said of Schatz. “For him not to be there forced everybody else to work a little harder. He’s able to make up for other peoples mistakes.”

Kolbe’s Calvin Wade scored eight of his 13 points in the fourth quarter as he converted multiple steals into baskets to help the Cougars build their 12 point lead. Wade and Perry both missed the front end of one-and-one free throw attempts late in the game to help give the Bobcats their chance to tie.

Kolbe will advance to play the winner of the No.1 Notre Dame versus No. 8 Bethel matchup. Earlier in the day, No. 3 Pomperaug knocked off No. 6 Masuk and No. 2 Stratford routed No. 7 Newtown.