Judge Memorial High beat a highly touted Washington, D.C. opponent for the second time in as many days as the Bulldogs advanced to today's finals of the Alhambra Catholic Invitational Tournament with a 66-64 overtime victory over Gonzaga Prep.
Judge downed defending tournament champion Archbishop Carroll in Thursday's opening round of the eight-team national tournament for Catholic teams."To beat one team from Washington, D.C., is something," said Judge Coach Jim Yerkovich. "But to beat two on back-to-back evenings is a greater feeling than when we won our 1980 state championship."
The Bulldogs could meet a third District of Columbia team in Saturday's 6 p.m. MST tournament final, because Judge will face the winner of Friday's late-night semifinal between Roman Catholic of Philadelphia and DeMatha High of Hyattsville, Md. Both teams were the top-ranked teams in their respective states this year.
The Bulldogs connected with key free throws in the OT, but it was Rob Solvason's sixth 3-pointer of the game that put Judge up for good.
After leading 20-14 after the first period, Judge trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half. Senior guard Chris Jones fouled out in the final period while the Bulldogs were still trailing by five points and hit six of their seven attempted free throws in OT, but a five-point flurry by teammate Michael Beierschmidt knotted the score at 50-50. The two teams then traded scoring to end regulation with a 58-all score.
Solvason finished with 22 points, while Jones scored 17. Judge center Justin Walsh, who missed Thursday's game with the flu, returned Friday to contribute nine points, with Nathan Semerad and Beierschmidt also putting in nine-point performances.
Featuring nine treys, Judge's outside shooting helped to diminish the effectiveness of the zone defense deployed by the taller Gonzaga Prep team.
For the second time in their two games, the Bulldogs faced a team boasting a tandem of Georgetown University recruits in Lamont Morgan and Robert Churchwill, with both scoring 13 points apiece.
However, it was Gonzaga's Robert Horton who finished with a game-high 24.