Trojans face defeat at hands of Central Catholic

Sacred Heart played its worst game of the season, and it unfortunately occurred at the worst possible time for the Trojans.
In Tuesday’s Division IV playoff game at Central Catholic, Sacred Heart managed to score only five points in the first quarter and would find itself facing a 15-point deficit at halftime.
“We played our worst game of the season,” Sacred Heart boys coach JP Bouillion said. “Too many mental errors hurt us. We played hard but our execution was just not there.”
That lack of execution led to No. 11 Sacred Heart falling 61-49 to No. 6 Central Catholic.
The opening quarter couldn’t have gone worse for the Trojans. In the opening period, Sacred Heart (12-13) mustered only five points as the team missed six layups and went 0-of-6 from the free throw line.
“That is always going to be tough to recover from against a quality team like Central Catholic,” Bouillion said.
Central Catholic (19-4) may have built up a double-digit lead but it wasn’t as if the Eagles were executing at a high rate either.
In the game, Central Catholic committed more than 25 turnovers. The problem was that Sacred Heart couldn’t turn that into points and the Trojans struggled with turning the ball over as well.
“I think we could only muster four points off those turnovers,” Bouillion said. “We then turned around and committed 28 turnovers. It would be difficult for the 1997 Bulls to function with that many turnovers.”
Sacred Heart executed well in the second half of Tuesday’s playoff game. The Trojans outscored the Eagles by the margin of 32-22 but the second-half deficit was just too much to overcome.
“The tone at halftime was calm the message was clear,” Bouillion said. “We played the worst half of the season. It can’t be any worse. So go ‘be us’ and play our brand of basketball.”
Bouillion added, “We extended the pressure, shared the ball better and rebounded much better in the second half.”
Sacred Heart would be led by Austin Darbonne with 19 points while Chase Tate added 12 points in the defeat. Central Catholic was paced by Vernon Singleton’s 16 points.
Even with the playoff defeat after a season dealing with COVID-19, there was plenty to be pleased by with the Trojans.
“I told them I was proud of them regardless of the result,” Bouillion said. “We can’t base our whole season off of this one game. The season was filled with challenges that would’ve broke lesser teams.”
Bouillion added, “I credit our three seniors (Breck Beaver, Spencer Darbonne and Tanner Bergeron) for providing the leadership necessary to keep us focused and together. Those guys have played an integral part in getting this program competitive.”