SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Last year, Newman cemented itself in the top hierarchy of New England prep basketball by winning its first NEPSAC Class AAA championship.
This year, the goals have been loftier. The Cardinals have collected milestones — first the NEBL championship, then the Class AAA regular-season title, and the Class AAA championship — in their pursuit of a national prep championship.
But back to back is certainly still pretty sweet.
Newman completed a dominant week on Sunday with its third rout in five days, a 101-68 victory over sixth-seeded Hoosac to claim its second consecutive Class AAA tournament title.
MORE BOYS CHAMPIONS: Class AA — Cushing beats Cheshire | Class A — Hotshkiss beats Phillips Andover | Class B Large — St. Mark's beats Canterbury | Class B Small — Holderness beats Kingswood Oxford
Illinois commit Lucas Morillo scored 25 points en route to earning his second straight Class AAA MVP honor, while Princeton commit Louis O’Keefe added 22 and Michigan commit and McDonald’s All-American Quinn Costello contributed 16 points.
The Cardinals (34-3) became the first repeat champion in Class AAA since Northfield Mount Hermon did so in 2018 and 2019. Those teams were coached by John Carroll, who now works as a special advisor for Newman and a mentor for coach Jackson Johnson. That made Sunday extra meaningful.
“It’s still in-house,” Johnson said. “That’s pretty special. That means a lot to me, that it’s still with us.”
Newman and Hoosac traded early blows on Sunday — with O’Keefe draining four 3-pointers in the game’s first six minutes of the game — but the Cardinals’ depth ultimately wore down their counterparts. They took a 13-point lead after Morillo drained a triple before leading by 17 at halftime.
Timmy Bollin, who picked up two fouls within the first two minutes of the game, returned to help slow down Hoosac’s bigs inside. He and his teammates, including Atticus Richmond, were relentless in their attacks, dominated the glass and pushed the pace against Hoosac’s tired legs. Newman led by as many as 32 and led by 29 with 3:29 to go when Johnson pulled his starters.
“Our whole thing is fatigue, fatigue, fatigue, speed, speed, speed,” Johnson said. “If we are consistent with that over the course of the game, we’ll (come out on top).”
Hoosac, which toppled No. 3 seed St. Thomas More and second-seeded Vermont Academy to make its first Class AAA title game, finished a breakthrough season. Dusan Eric had 23 points, while Nnadalu Noble had at least six blocks.
But the story of the day was Newman. The echoes of the Cardinals’ locker room celebration could be heard loudly outside in the halls of Western New England, with chants of “Newwww-man!” piercing the walls. But amidst the joyous moment, it was clear that it tempered, at least compared to last season — when they emptied the tank to win their first championship in an overtime thriller at New Hampton. They hope this is the prelude to a national championship party later this week.
“It was an appreciation of a milestone, but I could feel it, that this isn’t the end,” Johnson said. “They have another championship they want to get.”
