The long awaited matchup between Christian Brothers College and Westminster Christian Academy took place on January 31, 2022. In fact, the game was so highly anticipated that fans were required to purchase a ticket in order to be admitted, resulting in a completely sold out arena with spectators and media from all across St. Louis.

Both teams were full of future college prospects, with Westminster having Truman State commit Casen Lawrence, senior, and Kobi Williams, junior, who has proven that he has the talent to compete at the division one level. On the CBC side, point guard Rob Martin, senior, is the main factor on the Cadet basketball team and has received offers from Eastern Illinois, Saint Louis University, and Indiana State University. Along with Martin, 7’2” sophomore John Bol was an intimidating player for CBC, and he proved to play a dominant role on both sides of the court. Bol was ranked #25 in the country for his class via ESPN.

The game started off very one sided for CBC, with Bol working well with Martin and totaling three blocks in the first quarter and multiple dunks. CBC took a 20-5 lead after a very dominant first quarter, forcing multiple turnovers from the shell-shocked Cats, whose five points were all scored by Williams. However, they put this quarter in the past and began to move the ball some more to create open shots, several of which were made by Lawrence who began heating up with two big threes in the second quarter.

Despite being down 19-27 at halftime, the Wildcats did not lose hope and generated a lot of momentum going into the third quarter, most of which was riled up by Head Coach Dale Ribble. The Wildcats began to move the ball well on offense, and Sam Vestal and Austin Vick, senior centers, locked down Bol on defense.

“The first half we turned the ball over a lot which gave them lots of easy buckets and quality looks. Second half we knew we had to take better care of the ball, and be more patient,” said Lawrence.

Lawrence and Williams stayed hot and led the Cats to their second lead of the game with only two minutes left in the third quarter. Tension arose in the air after the third quarter ended 38-32, putting the victory up for grabs.

Williams did what he does best inside of the fourth quarter—making shots when they matter. With the game tied 41-41 with 1:41 left on the clock, he put the team on his back and hit the biggest two shots of his life, the first one giving the Cats a 43-41 lead with only a minute left.

After what seemed like an eternity of timeouts, Westminster was able to secure the last possession of the game, choosing to run an “ISO” for Williams against Justus Johnson, senior. With his defender on his side, Williams drove to the right and nailed what seemed like an impossible fade away jump shot with two seconds left on the clock. The gym instantly became filled with high pitched cheering, as the Cadets immediately called a timeout.

After a sloppy throw-in by CBC that was caught by Vick, the buzzer sounded to seal the deal. The Cats claimed a 45-43 upset victory in what some would call the game of the year.

“My shot had been falling the entire night, and my teammates trusted me to take the last shot. The feeling was surreal—it’s the moment every kid dreams of,” said Williams.