The College Heights Cougars knew it was going to be a toss-up in Wednesday's City League boys basketball final at the Northern Sport Centre.
Anytime they've played the D.P. Todd Trojans this year the games have been close.
After seeing their eight-point lead disappear in the third quarter, they suddenly trailed the Trojans by two points heading into the fourth quarter. But something flashed in front of the eyes of the Cougars in that final 10 minutes -- the thought of hanging another banner in their home gym -- and it led to exactly that, after an 81-72 win.
"The last city championship that's been won at our school was back in 1997, so we had only one lonely championship banner up there," said Cougars head coach Jeff Goodrich.
Rajen Bhullar and Matt Badial each shot 22 points and guard Nolan Hanson pumped in 19 to fuel the College Heights attack. The Cougars weren't able to contain Trojans guard Ethan Bhangu, whose long-range shooting led to six three-pointers and a game-high 32 points, but Hanson's shadow job on all-star Jai Kaushal limited him to just 13 points, key in the victory.
"They made a run on us in the third quarter and, credit to our guys, because we haven't been really great at protecting a lead most of the season, we were able to reel them back in and it was a good character win for our guys," said Goodrich. "Nolan did score points but he does so many other things. He really stood out in every aspect of the game. He's our leading rebounder, he dribbles the ball really well and he did a pretty decent job on (Kaushal).
"They missed a few shots and we were able to grab some key rebounds and that was the difference."
A noisy crowd of close to 1,000 turned out to watch the City League finals, where the Trojans senior girls defeated College Heights 72-56 to win their third-straight title.
"It was really a good environment and I think because there was only the two schools involved we had a real good turnout," said Goodrich. "This is the first time we've opened up both sides of the bleachers. It was pretty packed.
"They've been doing (the City League) since the early '90s and it has become one of the [highest-profile] high-school sporting events."
College Heights will host the double-A zone boys championship starting next Thursday.
