New faces, but same result as Saints book a trip to Sun

No. 1 St. Bernard to face surprising Plainfield for Division II championship

Waterford — It will be a short, familiar trip for the St. Bernard boys' basketball team on Tuesday night.

Mark Jones and his top-seeded Saints held off No. 4 Killingly 54-41 in the Eastern Connecticut Conference Division II tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon to earn a return trip to Mohegan Sun Arena.

The Saints have won all three of the previous Div. II tourney titles, including the first one held at the Sun last season. But while Jones has experienced winning a title there, it will be a new experience for much of his team.

"We're going there with a new group, so it feels fresh,'' said Jones. "It feels different, it doesn't feel like last year. I'm really enjoying this one and I want the kids to enjoy it too.''

And St. Bernard (15-7) has a surprise opponent in the final. No. 6 Plainfield avenged a pair of regular-season losses to No. 2 Griswold with a 51-42 win and will play for the title on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

Junior guards Frank Pacheco (18) and Walker Baillargeon combined for 35 points for the Saints, who never trailed in the game, which was sluggish at times.

"When you have two good teams that want to go to Mohegan Sun and play for a championship sometimes games get ugly because both teams

are playing so hard,'' said Jones.

St. Bernard beat Killingly (13-9) twice in the regular season. The Saints led 14-7 after one quarter and 28-16 at halftime as freshman Cedrick Similien scored seven of his 11 points.

The Saints helped their cause by going 19-of26 from the free-throw line.

"The last game against Killingly we were like 7 for 23,'' said Jones. "We've been really working on it and it's really helped us out the last couple of games.''

Senior guard Shayne Bigelow scored 26 of Killingly's points.

"Certain guys I thought would show up today didn't and that's what happens when you play a good team that's been there and done that,'' said Killingly coach Jim Crabtree. "Whether it was Saturday at Waterford or the ECC tournament, who knows?

"They'll give me some excuse in the locker room, but I just thought we were a deer in the headlights when the game started,'' said Crabtree.

St. Bernard's previous wins in the Div. II final came against Windham (2017), Woodstock Academy (2018) and Stonington (2019).

"We wanted to make it back to the Sun and we've done it,'' said Baillargeon.

Plainfield's journey has been very different. Bob Arremony, in his 40th season as the Panthers coach, was dealing with health issues before the season along with a lot of new faces in the lineup. And Plainfield (12-10) started the season at 5-7.

"I would have never thought this would happen at the beginning of the year,'' said Arremony. "We didn't think we'd be going (to the Sun) and we're happy that we are going.

"We worked hard all year,'' said Arremony. "And they worked with me because I had a lot to work on. We all worked together and they got a prize today.''

Plainfield outrebounded Griswold 28-17 with seniors Brett Wedley and Jayden Fort doing most of the damage. Jalen Arriaga led Plainfield with 14 points, Fort scored 13 and Wedley had nine points. Anthony Franklin had 11 points and CJ Mattson scored all nine of his points in the second half for Griswold (15-7). d.davis@theday.com