WESTFIELD — Success breeds success, but it also brings with it a target that grows bigger with each subsequent accomplishment.
The Pope Francis boys basketball team knows that feeling well. The top-seeded Cardinals felt the friction from teams throughout the region this winter, but they came out on the other side in a familiar place — on top.
Pope Francis captured the program’s fourth consecutive Western Mass. Class A championship on Wednesday night, pulling away for a 63-42 victory over No. 3 Chicopee Comp in the sectional final at Westfield High School.
The Cardinals (18-3) matched both Springfield Central (1989-92) and Putnam (2013-16) as the only boys basketball programs to win four consecutive Division I/Class A titles.
“This stuff is never easy,” said Pope Francis coach Justin Dalessio. “And again, I know what it’s like to be on the losing side of things, too. So I thought they took full advantage of their opportunity. They were prepared, they wanted this. A little bit of talk, I think some people were maybe against us or not wanting us to win, but that’s how it’s supposed to be. So I thought our guys really responded, and our strength all year was defending and rebounding. And I thought they did that today. It wasn’t easy though, so credit to Chicopee Comp.”
Sam Brigham led all scorers with 25 points for the Cardinals, and the senior guard made history late in the third quarter when he hit a floater in the lane to reach the 2,000-point mark for his varsity career.
Brigham is just the third boys basketball player in Western Mass. history to hit 2,000 points, joining Pioneer’s Adam Harrington (1994-98, 2,347 points) and Hopkins Academy’s Steve Zieja (1995-99, 2,033) as members of the exclusive club.
“It was a special moment, having family and friends here bringing posters and stuff like that showing love,” said Brigham. “(Comp) went on a run, we were going on runs. The game wasn’t really sealed at that point so I was honestly just trying to focus on the next play, kind of doing what I can to help us separate from them.”
Brigham’s milestone basket helped swing momentum back toward the Cardinals. Pope Francis led 40-22 at halftime, but the Colts charged out of the locker room on an 11-0 run to climb back within 40-33. Xavier Kleps (team-high 13 points) led that spurt, scoring five straight points, and forcing a timeout from the top-seeded Cards after they went scoreless for the first 6:54 of the third quarter.
“I don’t think there was much of any talking at halftime,” explained Chicopee Comp head coach Gavin Miller. “It was kind of just me holding everyone accountable, calling them out and telling them we didn’t come here just to say we were in the championship. If we’re going to go out there, we’re going to show why we’re here.”
The Colts (17-4) were playing in their first WMass final since 1988, and Miller said the enormity of the moment wasn’t lost on he or the rest of the program.
“It’s one of those things where we wanted to win this for the city of Chicopee,” said Miller. “I kind of talked about that stuff, just the moment and wanting them to know it. It’s been so long since anybody went (to a final). I went to school at Comp and played at Comp and I never got there. It happened way before me.
“So we tried to talk about that, have them understand the moment, how it was big for Chicopee itself. But I’m going to go home and wonder if I should’ve talked about those things with them. You second-guess yourself as a coach, and I put the blame on myself for losses like this.”
Brigham halted Comp’s 11-0 run with a jumper, then hit the floater for 2,000 points with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give Pope Francis a 44-33 lead entering the fourth.
The Cardinals’ run continued in the final period, as Brigham scored the first seven points of the quarter to cap what was a personal 11-0 run from the senior star. Jackson Maurer followed with a jumper and Pope Francis took a commanding 53-33 lead.
“We felt good when we went in the locker room at halftime, but I told them that the first five minutes of the third quarter is major, and sure enough, Comp came out with some fire,” said Dalessio. “We weren’t able to put it out and before you know it, I think they cut it to single digits. But then the kids responded, and I think after a timeout, they just took a breath and they said, ‘alright, let’s get back to doing what we were doing’ and before you know it, we were up 20 or whatever it was.”
While Brigham’s night helped put things away for the Cardinals, it was Jordan Dalessio who got it started. The junior, who averages 6.9 points per game, scored the first 10 points of the game for Pope Francis. He finished with a career-high 18 points, saving his best performance for a most opportune occasion.
“This whole season, everyone’s stepped up. So it was just kind of my turn,” offered Jordan Dalessio. “I felt hot at the start of the game so I just kept it going. My teammates trusted me, I trusted them, so it was just a whole team thing. But I started it off and we just kept going from there.”
Jordan Dalessio’s big night drove home a point that Pope Francis’ head coach made prior to tip-off.
“I was telling my assistant coach before the game that in games like this, there’s always someone that steps up — a name maybe that you didn’t recognize or hear a lot about,” said Coach Dalessio. “Although Jordan’s really great for our team, for him to do that today was huge, because we knew all the attention was going to go to Sam Brigham, and maybe like a Jackson Maurer and stuff like that. But Jordan stepped up today and I’m proud of him. I thought he really got us going.”
Pope Francis led 21-11 after one quarter and looked very much like a four-time champion in the second. Brigham, Dalessio and Jaxson Edwards (10 points) all hit 3-pointers in the frame, and Dalessio’s put-back just before the halftime buzzer staked the Cardinals to a 40-22 advantage.
“I’ve said it before, they’re the best team in WMass, they’ve proven it three times in a row already coming into this game,” said Miller. “So we knew we had to play a perfect game to even match up, then try and stop some of the things that they do. I thought we did a good job in spurts, but it was just static. We didn’t sustain it long enough.”
The Cardinals proved their dominance during the sectional title run, outscoring their three opponents (Holyoke, Longmeadow and Comp) by an average of 29.7 points per game.
“Obviously this is a great program. It’s had a lot of success,” said Brigham, who transferred to Pope Francis from St. Mary’s in Westfield after his sophomore year. “I came here my junior year and luckily, I got to be on such a great team that we were able to continue having success. And I think this team that we have this year is special. All the guys that we have on this team, they’re like family. We all love each other. So just to do it with guys that you love, it makes it so much more special.”
The Cardinals were the No. 2 team in the most recent MIAA Division II power rankings, and they’ll find out their official seed and matchup for the state tournament when brackets are released on Saturday.
“I think we’re in a really great spot,” said Brigham. “Honestly, I think we have a lot of momentum, obviously winning this Western Mass. tournament and our schedule this year, it’s been pretty rigorous. So playing all those good teams, winning and losing, I think we can kind of take those lessons with us to the state tournament. We’re going to be playing good teams, athletic teams, but I think we’re ready. Yeah, I like our odds.”
Brody Fay scored nine points while Elijah Kleps and Frank Jordan added eight apiece for the Colts, which are hoping to lock up a top-8 seed for the Division II state tournament.
“We wanted to be playing our best ball going into the playoffs, and I think we took a step toward that before today,” said Miller. “We can’t have those bad moments in the state tournament, but to make a positive note of it, we know what we have to fix and what we have to clean up before then.”
