Salpointe’s seniors and coach can now say it — they are basketball champions.

But the Peoria boys made Salpointe earn its first title in the 4A Conference final Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Their game went to overtime, when a couple of Peoria threes rattled out and Salpointe converted inside to win 54-48.

Grant Weitman’s put back off his own miss, a Braden Miller lay up and two free throws in overtime helped Salpointe hold off Peoria in the final four minutes. Some of Salpointe’s seniors were playing in their third championship game.

They lost the first two to Shadow Mountain teams that were ranked high, including the 2017 game in which Salpointe held a big lead in the third quarter. Last year, Salpointe didn’t avoid a postseason exit trifecta when it lost to, who else, Shadow Mountain in the state semifinals.

“Three times,” said Salpointe’s Harvard-bound leader Evan Nelson, who scored a team-high 17 points. “Three times I’ve been here (in the finals), and this is my first time (winning). So all glory to God.”

As for Salpointe coach Jim Reynolds, his long wait for a championship ring is over as well.

He’s been at it for 32 years as a head coach, mostly while in Ohio, where he was the state’s winningest coach on the boys side when he left.

He donned the Salpointe maroon and gold starting in 2017.

Salpointe coach Jim Reynolds“It’s a tremendous feeling for our guys,” Reynolds said. “For our program. All of the people who have come before this. There’s been lots of great players. Lots of great coaches. And for us to be able to do it. We had a focus that we were going to try and do it at the start of the year based on how we finished last year and who we had back.”

Despite the loss and being held to a season low in points, Peoria made a great run at its first title since 2012.

At the helm was interim head coach Patrick Battillo, a Peoria High grad who considers his school a second home and his players part of his family. The big brother of the Peoria Panthers, Kevin Kogbara, sent the game to overtime with a put back after a scramble for the ball.

Peoria finished 26-4 and as the 4A Conference state runner-up this season. 

The clock had 5.2 seconds left, but Salpointe’s final shot in regulation fell short. In overtime, Weitman, one of nine seniors on his team, made the first big scoring play after rebounding his own miss.

He was fouled on the play but made the basket for an and 1 attempt with 2:29 remaining. The free throw was missed, but, with Peoria pressuring, a Weitman’s pass with under a minute remaining found Miller open under the basket for the final field goal.

“Words can’t describe this right now,” Weitman said. “We persevered through so much. Five starting seniors (Jordan Gainey, Mille, Nelson, Jake Cloe, Weitman). It’s a great way to end your career at Salpointe. You can’t ask for anything better.”

Weitman (6-3) had the tough assignment of guarding the 6-feet-5, mobile Kogbara.

Salpointe (30-1) went strictly man-to-man throughout the game and so did Peoria (26-4).

Kogbara scored 12 points and tallied seven boards, but Weitman (15 points) also was effective, especially off the dribble. He also forced Kogbara to foul out after Weitman took a charge in overtime.

Peoria failed to score in the four-minute overtime, partly because the rim was unkind to Isaac Monroe. Monroe’s (14 points) back-to-back threes from long distance sent Peoria to halftime with its biggest lead of the game, 29-22.

But his only other two three point attempts in the game didn’t fall in the final minute of the game.

“We didn’t win, but I’m so proud of the team coming in here,” Peoria’s Andrew Camacho, the team’s second leading scorer, said. “I feel like we made the whole Peoria community proud.”

Camacho is just a freshman but didn’t play like it on a big stage, converting 6 of 12 shots for 14 points.

Said Reynolds about Peoria, “Their five starters. My gosh. There’s not a weak link in that group. They are all really good. They really play hard on defense. That freshman (Camacho). Wow. He’s quite a player.”

Deandre Petty, a guard for Peoria, also had himself a game with 14 boards as well as another Salpointe senior, Gainey (11 defensive rebounds).

To show just how even this battle was, the largest lead for each team was seven points and there were 11 lead changes.

Prior to its championship victory, Salpointe ended as the runner-up five times in the school’s history.

But on Saturday it became a champion.

Finally.