Kapaun hands Trinity Academy its first loss in El Dorado tournament final

The script has repeated itself four times during even-numbered years at the Bluestem Classic.

After three games in three days, Kapaun Mount Carmel hoisted the championship trophy, one to go alongside titles from 2012, 2014 and 2016.

The Crusaders (5-6), slotted as No. 6 seed this year, once again found their magic in this tournament, pinning the first loss of the season on top-seeded Trinity Academy 49-40 in Saturday’s final.

Senior Mitchell Woodward again paced the Kapaun victory, finishing with a game-high 22 points to go with the 24 he scored Friday night in a semifinal triumph over Campus.

Just as they did against Campus, the Crusaders bolted to an early lead, holding a 29-20 halftime advantage.

Trinity (11-1) was forced to play catch-up and did forge a few second-half ties, but couldn’t get over the hump.

Jacob Baker pulled the Knights even at 38-38 with a shot in the lane, but Kapaun answered with Jack Barrier’s three-pointer from the right wing that put the Crusaders ahead for good, 41-38, with 6:05 remaining.

From there, Kapaun rebounded Trinity misses and hit key shots that eventually provided the final margin. All the Knights could get after Baker’s bucket was a dunk by 6-foot-8 sophomore Blessing Ekeshili with 24 seconds to play. But Woodward hit one of two free throws with 16.2 seconds left, and Barrier sank two with 4.1 to play for the final margin.

“From Game One of the year, we’ve grown up a little bit,” coach John Cherne III said, “but we still have some room to improve.

“You look at our first game (of the season) in comparison to this game, the kids have bought in, practices have been going really well. They’ve been competing, and I can’t say enough about each and every one of them, how much they just keep giving of themselves to the team and to each other.”

Cherne said Woodward’s contributions were a key, but he’s sure the senior can play even better games.

“Mitch has grown up as a senior quite a bit, but I still think he hasn’t played some of his better basketball,” Cherne said. “He had a really good tournament; he had two good days.”

One very noticeable improvement for the Crusaders has been the emergence of juniors Scott Valentas and Barrier to assist with the scoring load. Each finished with 10 points against Trinity.

“We just need to find consistency now, and that’s the big thing,” Cherne said. “If we can find consistency, we’ll be OK.”

Cherne said the tournament provided a number of benefits for team cohesion.

“The team found its identity this week,” he said. “It was a big week for them. They played four games in six days, and they’ve battled in each one of them. They’ve had a really, really solid week.”

Woodward was selected Most Valuable Player of the tournament, and Collegiate senior Cody McNerney took the Top Player trophy for the second consecutive year.

Woodward said the Crusaders benefit from being in the tough City League.

“Those teams are all really athletic, play at a good pace,” he said. “So I think that prepares us really good for this tournament, gives us a chance to have success so we can get some momentum going in the second half of the season.”

He said he just felt comfortable, which led to many of his shots falling.

“My teammates kept getting me the ball and getting me open, and then I’m getting good shots off,” he said.

In 2016, Kapaun was seeded fourth but came away with the title.

“Two years ago, we came here, nobody expected us to do anything, but then we got that (tournament title), got that momentum in the second half of the season and made a run at state,” he said. “Proving people wrong, that’s what we thrive on.”

This story was originally published January 20, 2018 at 9:42 PM with the headline "Kapaun hands Trinity Academy its first loss in El Dorado tournament final."