Bishop Hartley claims Central Catholic League title with win over St. Francis DeSales

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Pharez Nicholas was eager to make up for lost time on Friday when Bishop Hartley played at St. Francis DeSales in its Central Catholic League finale.

After all, the Hartley junior had been forced to listen helplessly from home as his team lost a key league game at Bishop Watterson by nine points exactly two weeks ago because a concussion that he suffered on Feb. 3 caused him to sit out that contest.

“It was tough, because I wanted to play that game at Watterson so bad, but I got a concussion in our game at Mansfield Senior (a two-point loss), and I was lightheaded the next day, and when I tried to go to school. I was struggling to even walk upstairs,” Nicholas said. “Bright lights really bothered me, so I had to go isolate myself at home. I missed our next two games, and I had to listen to the Watterson game on the radio.

“I feel like if I would have played that game, we would have won and we would have already won the CCL before tonight. But since it all came down to this game at DeSales, I was looking to dominate in any way I could.”

Fortunately for the Hawks, Nicholas rose to the challenge by scoring a game-high 25 points to lead Hartley to a dramatic 61-56 overtime victory in front of an overflow crowd.

With the win, the Hawks improved to 19-3 overall and won the CCL outright for the first time since 2011 with a 5-1 league record ahead of runner-up DeSales (3-3). Hartley also split the CCL title with Ready and Watterson in 2018.

“Pharez is a difference maker and that’s what he was in this game tonight,” Hartley coach Andreas James said. “When a competitor like Pharez has to miss games, he’s going to come back that much more focused, and you could see that he was really locked in.”

Indeed, Nicholas displayed exceptional focus on the foul line, making all 13 of his free throw attempts, despite being heckled by a loud DeSales student section throughout the night.

After the game, Nicholas and his teammates jawed back and forth with the Stallions’ student section, before donning CCL championship T-shirts and posing for pictures.

“Their fans said some things, and I took it personally,” Nicholas said. “That just made me want to play even harder, because I wanted to let my game do the talking.”

Nicholas made his biggest statement during the four minute overtime period, where he went 6-for-6 from the foul line, including making four free throws within the last 24.3 seconds of the extra period to stretch Hartley’s advantage from one point to five points to ice the game.

With 2 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in overtime, Nicholas also drove to the basket, drew contact and made both foul shots to put the Hawks ahead 55-54 - a lead they never relinquished.

“Pharez gets banged on a lot, on and off the ball, but he stayed aggressive and came through when we needed him the most,” James said. “He’s the exact guy we want to get the ball to with the game on the line, because we trust him to finish. He trusted in his training and didn’t miss.”

The 6-foot-5 forward - who also racked up three rebounds and a block - was a force in the paint the entire game, as he made six of his eight field goal attempts.

Nicholas converted a three-point play with 3:23 left in the first quarter and electrified Hartley’s fans with a thunderous dunk late in the second quarter to help the Hawks take a 29-28 halftime lead.

After DeSales began playing a more physical style of defense against Nicholas in the second half, he still managed to get another dunk in the third quarter, and he twisted past his opponent in the paint for a left-handed layup to pull Hartley within 51-49 late in the fourth quarter to help force overtime.

“Pharez brought a lot of energy to this game and he always does so much for us,” Hartley sophomore point guard Jakhi Calloway said. “We trust in him to finish every time. Whether it’s with a big dunk or with free throws, he always comes through for us.”

With starting guard Carson Svetek sitting out the game with an illness and junior point guard Jaden Calloway sitting out the first half due to a disciplinary issue, Jakhi Calloway was Hartley’s primary ball-handler and he scored 12 of his 16 points over the first two quarters to keep the Hawks in the game.

Jakhi also had six rebounds and two steals.

“Jakhi really stepped up,” James said. “If Jakhi didn’t play the way he did in the first half, we wouldn’t have won this game. I’m really proud of all of our kids, because winning the CCL outright was our goal, and they found a way to get it done.”

Senior guard Jonathan Michael came off the bench and scored nine points for the Hawks, including a field goal with 2:08 remaining in the regulation that tied the score at 51 and eventually forced overtime.

Also leading Hartley were Jaden Calloway (six points), Ethan Godfrey (five points) and Jeffrey Reynolds (three blocks).

“(Nicholas) was able to get good position and get to the foul line, and he’s a good free throw shooter,” said DeSales coach Pat Murphy, whose squad dropped to 12-10 overall. “Their best shooter (Svetek) was sidelined, and one of their point guards didn’t play in the first half, and we didn’t take advantage of it.”

Junior point guard PJ Noles scored 23 points to nearly will the Stallions to a victory.

Noles made a game-high four 3-pointers, including banking in a heave from a few feet beyond half court as the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter. In the fourth quarter, Noles scored six consecutive points to tie the score at 47 with 5:55 remaining in regulation. And in overtime, Noles made a 3-pointer to put DeSales ahead 54-53 with 3:14 left, for the Stallions’ final lead of the contest.

“PJ is a great player and he made some special plays,” Murphy said. “PJ gets hammered by opponents, but he’s so physical that he doesn’t get the calls very often. He did everything well in this game, including handling the point, rebounding and playing defense.”

It was a back-and-forth contest, with the teams trading the lead a total of 11 times, but the Hawks were able to rally from deficits on five different occasions.

Daevyn Amankwaah scored off a Hartley turnover to cap a 10-0 run by the Stallions, which gave them a 51-47 advantage with just four minutes left.

Amankwaah also tipped in a missed shot by Noles to pull DeSales within 57-56 with 25.5 seconds remaining in overtime, before the Stallions turned the ball over on their following possession.

“We made a lot of great plays to put ourselves in a position to win, but we made mistakes and couldn’t stay in front,” Murphy said.

Hartley went 22-for-25 from the foul line and DeSales went 8-for-10 from the charity stripe.

“It’s hard to win when you foul and turn the ball over as much as we did,” Murphy said. “We finished with 17 turnovers, including four at the end of regulation and another in overtime, and that made a difference.”