Bruins' luck runs out vs. Irish

With the game tied at 50, Callahan drove and dished off to Irish teammate Chris Lee, who scored with 3.2 seconds remaining to lift the Irish to a 52-50 victory over the St. Bede Bruins.

“I saw eight seconds on the clock, I knew we were in spread, I saw an open lane, and I knew I could drive and they’d help and I knew Chris would be there and he’d be ready for the pass and he laid it in. And man it was awesome,” said Callahan, who led the Irish with 18 points.

The game didn’t end without some controversy. St. Bede inbounded the ball over halfcourt quickly and called a timeout with 1.8 seconds left. From there, Grant Bosnich attempted a cross-court pass to Brad Groleau, but the pass was knocked down as time ran out.

St. Bede coach Mike Kilmartin thought Groleau was knocked down, too, and pleaded for a foul call to no avail. He acknowledged the Bruins missed their share of plays and assignments, but said the officials missed that one.

“It’s sad it comes down to one no-call,” he said, asking reporters if they believed it was a foul or not. “As an official, you can’t not call it. ... One official kept saying take a look at a tape. We’ll, if I’m wrong I’m wrong but I don’t think so.”

Witte didn’t see it that way.

“I know Groleau got knocked down, but we had the inside position there. They can say what they will. You got to let the players make the play,” he said.

The Irish (25-4), who advance to the Byron Sectional to face Sterling Newman (25-4) at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, are right where they wanted to be, Witte said.

“They set some goals. They wanted to win 25 games, they wanted to be regional champs and it just so happened to be on the same night,” he said.