St. Vincent DePaul - 36 / Seton Catholic - 31

An offensive explosion by the St. Vincent de Paul Irish propelled the team from Akron to the 8th grade boys championship of the Morrissey Classic, defeating Seton Catholic of Hudson, 36-31.

The Irish outscored the Crusaders, 19-10, in the final period to complete the comeback victory.

St. Vincent de Paul trailed 24-19 early in the final period but rallied to take a 26-24 lead when Alvin completed a three-point play with just under five minutes to play.

Seton answered from the free throw line with Sam making three of four, but a basket by Daryl and free throws by Alvin pushed the Irish lead up to 30-27.

Sam cut the St Vincent de Paul lead to 30-29 on a pair of free throws, but Alvin pushed the Irish advantage to 34-29 thanks to a bucket and two made free throws. The Irish were in command from there on out.

Alvin opened up the game with four consecutive points for St Vincent de Paul, but Seton took advantage of empty Irish possessions and countered with four points of its own.

The Crusaders used five points in the final 90 seconds to take a 9-6 lead after one period.

Sam, who scored the final points of the first period, opened the second with a great scoring drive to push the Crusaders lead to 11-6. The Irish struggled offensively in the second period, as it took 6 1/2 minutes to get on the scoreboard. Nausor broke the drought with a nice basket off a feed from Daryl. Seton looked in command in the closing minute, but a steal and breakaway lay-up by Keion cut the Crusaders lead to 14-10 at the intermission.

St. Vincent de Paul picked up its defensive intensity in period number three, and defense led to offense with baskets from Martavean and Kevin to tie the game a 14-14

Seton stopped the run when Ben recovered from a steal attempt and buried a short jumper for a 16-14 edge. Aidan then came up with a transition basket to push the Crusaders lead to 18-14. It was part of a 7-0 that pushed Seton's lead to a game-high seven point points at 21-14. But three free throws down in the final ten seconds by the Irish cut the lead to 21-17.

Alvin led the way with 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Irish

Ben was the top scorer for Seton with 13 points.