Nerve-racking for its fans, the Trinity High School basketball team found a risky but successful formula over the last two rounds of the Class Act Federal Credit Union Seventh Region Tournament – fall behind, turn on the press in the fourth quarter, force overtime and ultimately win it there.
After rallying to beat Ballard in Friday’s semifinals, the Shamrocks did it again in Tuesday’s championship game to defeat rival St. Xavier 52-48 before a capacity crowd of 3,150 at Valley.
The Shamrocks overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win the regional for the third time in the last five years.
“I wish I could start the game that way and just play that way for four quarters,” Shamrocks coach Mike Szabo said. “But I know what these guys have in them. They’re just going to keep fighting.”
Gabe Schmitt led the fourth-quarter rally and finished with 18 points for Trinity (29-6), No. 5 in the state in The Courier-Journal’s Litkenhous Ratings. Jacob King scored 14 points, and David Burton chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds.
The Shamrocks will face No. 11 Newport Central Catholic (28-4) at 1:30 p.m. next Wednesday in the first round of the Whitaker Bank/KHSAA Sweet 16 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky.
After losing eight seniors, including all five starters, off last season’s 24-6 squad, not many observers outside of St. Matthews thought a March trip to Rupp Arena was possible for Trinity.
“Even though we lost a lot of talent, last year’s group gave us a lot of confidence coming into this year,” King said. “We put in work to get to where we are now.”
The Tigers (23-10) fell just short of capturing their first regional title since 1995. Connor McKim capped a remarkable senior season with 34 points but missed two free throws with 2.9 seconds left in regulation and the score tied at 40.
“We’ve ridden him throughout the year, and we were going to continue to do so tonight,” Tigers coach Kevin Klein said. “I couldn’t be more proud to be his coach. He put on a special, special show for St. X basketball this year. He’s going to be sorely missed.”
His team down 24-23, McKim singlehandedly carried the Tigers throughout the second half. He scored every point during a 13-2 run that gave the Tigers a 36-26 lead with 7:48 left in regulation.
Meanwhile, Trinity went 1 for 10 from the field in the third quarter. It was reminiscent of Friday’s semifinal against Ballard, when the Shamrocks trailed 42-31 with 7:04 left in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t know what that is,” Schmitt said. “We need to come out better in the second half of the game. … But we’ve come back before, and we knew we could do it again.”
Schmitt scored eight straight points, hitting a pair of 3-pointers, to get Trinity within 36-34 with 6:12 left in the fourth. Burton’s 3-pointer gave the Shamrocks a 37-36 lead with 3:11 left.
King said the key was a full-court press the Shamrocks broke out in the fourth quarter. After committing just four turnovers over the first three quarters, St. X had five in the fourth.
“We had to speed them up,” King said. “We had no choice. We were almost in desperation mode. We had to get something going, and the press got us going.”
After a pair of Billy Basham free throws gave the Tigers a 40-37 lead with 1:22 left, Burton’s jumper pulled the Shamrocks within 40-39 with 1:07 remaining.
Trinity got three offensive rebounds on its next possession before L.J. Harris was fouled with 9 seconds left. He made 1 of 2 free throws to tie the score at 40 before McKim was fouled on a drive to the basket.
After McKim missed the second free throw, teammate Will Olsen got the offensive rebound but missed an off-balance shot at the buzzer, leading to overtime.
“We got a little bit fortunate there, but we’ll take it,” Szabo said. “That’s for sure.”
McKim’s jumper gave the Tigers a 42-40 lead with 3:19 left in overtime, but King nailed a 3-pointer to give the Shamrocks the lead for good, 43-42, at the 2:17 mark. The Shamrocks hit 7 of 8 free throws over the final 1:25 to seal the victory.
Now it’s on to what many consider will be a wide-open chase for the Sweet 16 championship. While many are surprised to see the Shamrocks have that chance, Szabo isn’t.
“We felt like we were going to have a good team, and we did,” he said. “They’re a good team because they’re great teammates. They’re very coachable and want to learn. You can accomplish so much with kids like that.”
Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and jfrakes@courier-journal.com.
ST. XAVIER 12 11 11 6 8 – 48
TRINITY 14 10 2 14 12 – 52
St. Xavier (23-10) – McKim 34, Basham 2, Olsen 3, Brian 4, Kiesler 5.
Trinity (29-6) – J. King 14, Burton 10, Johnson 9, Schmitt 18, Harris 1.
3-point goals – McKim 5, Olsen; J. King 2, Burton 2, Johnson 3, Schmitt 3.
Dr. Rudy J. Ellis all-tournament team – Gabe Schmitt, David Burton, Jacob King (Trinity); Connor McKim, Will Olsen (St. Xavier); Chance Moore (Eastern); Jamil Wilson (Ballard); Steven Gordon (Manual); Kevin Kirby (Waggener); Alex Cook (Male); Dai’Von Thompson (Central).
