Boys basketball: Mindley sparks turnaround as Burke Catholic rolls to Section 9 title

CENTRAL VALLEY - It was the kind of confidence-building performance that galvanizes a team, erasing the disappointment of close loses throughout a lackluster regular season, and making clear to the group its potential.

"Sometimes you lose a little faith in yourself, but that win told us how good we could be," Burke Catholic boys basketball coach Pat Harris said of his team upsetting James I. O'Neill two weeks ago. "It let us know we could do something special."

It gave them a belief, supported by evidence, that their rival could be overcome should they meet in the playoffs.

… And then O'Neill scored seven points on them in the opening minute of the Section 9 Class B final.

"Yeah," senior Brandon Mindley said, "it didn't start out the way we had planned."

Neither did their season, in fact. But creating desirable endings has become a hallmark of this team.

The fourth-seeded Eagles erupted in the second and third quarters, making moot an early deficit and pulling away for a 56-45 win over No. 2 O'Neill to capture their first section championship since 2013.

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The road to this point: Check out the Section 9 boys basketball playoff results

As the final seconds ran off at Monroe-Woodbury High School, and with his teammates already celebrating, Dylan DeMaro tossed the ball upward like a cap on graduation day. In a sense, it was that for this group, which had come up short in the final last season.

"We made it!" Jake DeMaro said of his thoughts as time expired. "We did it! It doesn't end for us here."

What it means

Burke Catholic next will face Section 1's Valhalla in a subregional Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. at Yorktown High School. When the Eagles last won a section title, they got as far as overtime of the state final.

"It means our hard work is paying off," Harris said. "We played hard, but we had a difficult schedule and we had some tough losses. But we hung in there and I kept saying, 'These games, even the losses, will pay off for us eventually.'"

Player of the Game

Mindley provided an offensive spark when the Eagles meandered, scoring 17 of his 19 points in the second and third quarters as Burke charged ahead. The 6-foot forward had the first six points of the third, including a layup that made it 32-23.

As well, his defensive intensity and versatility ― on the wing and in the post ― helped set a tone as the Eagles quickly wiped out a nine-point deficit in the second quarter.

"Defense was the difference," he said. "We just started communicating better and locking in. I knew if we did that, we could win this."

Turning point

Jack O'Boyle gave Burke its first lead, 22-20, on a put-back with 1:21 left in the second. Jake DeMaro followed with two quick baskets, including a jumper that extended the lead to six before Jordan Thompson's three drew the Raiders within 26-23 at halftime.

The Eagles, though, opened the third quarter with a 16-2 run and pushed the lead to 42-25 on O'Boyle's free throws with 2:14 left in the period. Burke pressured the ball, forced turnovers and pushed the tempo, finding openings in transition.

"We weren't doing that well early in the year, but we caught fire toward the end," said Jake DeMaro, who scored 15. "We started clicking and things got rolling right before sectionals. Just in time."

Mindley hit a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer that gave the Eagles a 15-point cushion.

"We play great defense despite being a small team," Harris said. "We take the court and people probably think we're gonna lose by 20 because we're undersized. But we play with a lot of heart, and we play good team defense."

By the numbers

James I. O'Neill (11-7) ― Thompson had 20 points and eight rebounds. Isaiah Bates had 14 points and three steals, and Isaac Visger had four points and two blocks.

Burke Catholic (12-10) ― O'Boyle had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Ryan Schust added six points.

They said it

"We only have one football player on the team (Rory Farrell), but we know how it ended for them," Jake DeMaro said of Burke being crushed by O'Neill in the football section final last November. "To get it back in a championship game, it's a great feeling."

"This bus ride will be fun," Mindley said of the celebration. "We're gonna put that Lil Baby on and get lit!"

Stephen Haynes: shaynes@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4826, Twitter: @StephenHaynes4

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Boys basketball: Mindley, DeMaro help Burke win Section 9 title