Cathedral's Aldridge Hits Game-Winning Layup, Tops Brebeuf With 1.9 Seconds Left

Keaton Aldridge drove the lane with the clock nearly gone and flipped in a layup with 1.9 seconds remaining, giving Cathedral a 69-67 victory over Brebeuf Jesuit in a Class 3A regional Saturday in Martinsville. The Fighting Irish, who needed every second of it, advanced out of the regional on the strength of that final burst from their senior forward.

The finish capped a wild afternoon for a Cathedral program that has owned this rivalry for more than two decades. The Fighting Irish have not lost to the Braves since 2001, and Aldridge made sure that streak reached 23 consecutive wins.

Earlier this season, the two programs met in a regular-season clash that looked nothing like Saturday's thriller. Cathedral handled Brebeuf comfortably, 79-63, as Aldridge posted a game-high 24 points and 14 rebounds and Brady Koehler added 23 points and nine rebounds. Both players spent last season primarily as reserves, and that blowout win served as an early declaration that their time had arrived.

In that meeting, Brebeuf actually seized its first lead of the second half on a Javawn Brooks layup that made it 39-38, then pushed to 41-40 on a Quinn Warren post-up bucket. Cathedral answered with a 16-2 run that put the game out of reach, capped by an uncontested transition basket from junior Gough, who finished with 17 points, three assists and five rebounds. Butler commit Evan Haywood contributed 10 points and nine rebounds, though he went scoreless after halftime. For Brebeuf, senior Reis Butcher led the Braves with 13 points and four rebounds, while the 6-8 Warren added 12 points and five rebounds. Sophomore Austin Ford had eight points off the bench.

The motivation to protect the streak was real and spoken plainly. "Our motto is 'Sacrifice,' and we weren't sharing the ball. Took some tough shots, and we weren't defensively there for each other. It was basically, pick it up. This is not how we play this thing, and I think 22 straight makes it where no one wants to be the one where the streak breaks," Delaney said. "Not that streak. You have to have some pride at some point."

Aldridge echoed that sentiment after the Martinsville regional. "We did a lot to keep the streak going and beat Brebeuf today," he said. "We don't want anybody coming in here, in our house beating us."

Saturday's regional result advances Cathedral to the next round of the Class 3A tournament, carried there by a senior who spent last year watching from the bench and chose this season to be remembered differently.