Cadets fall to Trojans

Second-seeded Greece Athena never trailed on their way to a 61-47 victory over third-seeded Hilton to earn a spot in the Class AA championship game against McQuaid.

The Cadets trailed by just five points after the first period, but then went into a four minute scoring drought, which allowed the Trojans to build a 12 point lead. Before the half was over, Hilton managed just six points on offense in the second quarter and the Trojans extended their lead to 14 at 31-17. In the half, Hilton shot just 26 percent from the field.

Early in the second half, the Cadets went on a 9-4 run on a three point put-back with a foul shot by Mike Fowler, an inbounds bank shot from Shane Galatio, a lay-up by Cal Palumbo and another put-back by Kenny Henry. But Athena matched them basket for basket the rest of the quarter and led by 11 after three.

Joe Hutton's three-pointer from the left corner with 2:15 remaining brought the Cadets to within nine points, but Athena closed strong from the free throw line to put away the semi-final win.

"They've (Athena) built a tradition expecting to be here and as much as we talked about it in the days leading up, they seemed to be more poised," said third year Hilton head coach Troy Prince. "The basket seemed to have a lid on it for a while there, but they are an underrated defensive team."

Fowler and Shane Galatio led the Cadets in scoring with 12 and 11 points respectively with Palumbo and Henry scoring eight points each and Hutton adding six. Henry led the team with nine rebounds.

Hilton, one season after getting knocked out in the quarterfinals and finishing the season 11-9, improved to 16-5 this season. They will move up to Class AAA next season.

"It's the expectation we want to build that the younger players have seen the job our three-year starters have done and hope that they take their incoming role seriously as incoming starters and keep it rolling," said Prince.

Seniors playing in their final scholastic contest were Andy Eichas, Mike Fowler, Joe Hutton, Shane Galatio, Cal Palumbo and Matt Seils.

March 4, 2007