Holy Family boys basketball head coach Peter Villecco went from hoping his team would get into the Class 4A field, to imploring his No. 17-seeded team to use “championship habits” down the stretch in the state championship game.
Talk about a whirlwind month for the Tigers.
In the end, his team embraced those habits and sprinted to the Class 4A crown, defeating No. 2 Resurrection Christian, 53-43, on Saturday to win its fourth state title in program history and first since 2014.
“From where we came in the last month — we were down in the dumps — we were dropping like a rock in the RPI and weren’t even looking at it, and just said ‘we just wanna get in’. They gave us the 17 (seed) and we just had a light switch turn on,” Villecco said.
The habits of spacing the floor, ball security, making good decisions and securing rebounds with two hands all helped the Tigers (17-11) to a storied run.
Saturday’s game encapsulated all of that.
Holy Family made its first three attempts from beyond the arc and took a 20-19 lead into halftime. The Tigers came into the tournament known as a 3-point shooting team, as it took 579 attempts from beyond the arc through the Great 8, but they used a much more balanced approach Saturday.
In the second half, Holy Family turned up the defensive dial. Resurrection Christian had three players at 6-foot-3 or taller, including 6-foot-11 center Jacob Barker, who was held to eight points. The key was forcing six third-quarter turnovers that swung the tide of the game for Holy Family as it took a 35-29 lead.
“We beat ourselves and we sped ourselves up. It’s not discrediting Holy Family, they’re a great team, well-coached,” Barker said. “We just happened to speed ourselves up and play too fast.”
As much as a sped-up offense hurt the Cougars (23-5), it’s precisely what the Tigers wanted to do — and that’s precisely what they did.
“We’re usually smaller, but we’re faster than anyone,” Gabe Tafoya said. “The big men, if they caught it (in the post) we knew we were going to trap them. It was just being more aggressive than them.”
Offensively, Holy Family was methodical with its spacing and long stretches of patient offense frustrated a Resurrection Christian team that was unable to dominate on the boards. Senior Eric Quintana scored 10 points, while Tafoya went off for a game-high 18, his fifth double-digit effort of the postseason after averaging 5.8 points per game during the regular season.
“That’s what’s so special about this team. We can win in so many ways,” Quintana said. “Guys that can shoot it from deep, guys that can score at all three levels. We got beasts that can finish in the paint that can finish down low … they’re phenomenal.”
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