In the first full week of the new year, Boys Varsity Basketball won the 16-team Santa Isabel tournament at Cantwell-Sacred Heart with a 47-38 victory over Our Lady of Perpetual Help (OLPH).

The Falcons opened the tournament with a 44-7 blowout victory over Nativity on the second day of 2015. The next day, the Falcons won another game by a large margin to advance to the semifinals.

Later that day, the Falcons returned to play in the semi-finals. The Falcons jumped out to an early lead, up by fifteen at halftime. They expanded their lead to twenty-two points at about the ten-minute mark, which was the apex of their lead. In the final ten minutes, Sacred Heart’s shooters caught on fire, while the Falcons’ went cold. They pulled to within ten points with two minutes left, aided by the Falcons losing two players, both of whom fouled out (by accumulating five fouls). The final two minutes took forever, due to an endless barrage of fouls called, and the approximately twenty resulting free throws in that span of time. The Falcons committed at least five fouls in that span, preserving precious time for Sacred Heart to continue their comeback. With seven seconds remaining, Sacred Heart drained a three-point shot to pull within three points. On the resulting inbounds play, the Falcons inbounded the ball and passed the ball to Charlie Gilb, who was immediately fouled. Gilb made both free throws, so the Falcons had a five point lead to hold with 6.2 seconds left. Sacred Heart quickly took the ball upcourt, and promptly drilled yet another three-point shot, but time ran out before the Falcons were forced to inbound the ball, and the Falcons pulled out a 55-53 victory.

Sometimes in tournaments, a great semifinal precedes an anticlimactic final. That was not the case here. The Falcons quickly fell behind Our Lady of Perpetual Help 8-0, and called a time-out to try to stem the tide. The Falcons were able to score, but gave up another basket before they scored again. The Falcons then began a slow march back to an even score. Before halftime, the Falcons needed to call another timeout to again try to slow OLPH, and pulled to just two down at the half. In the second half, the Falcons pulled even, then pulled away on the way to a 47-38 victory.