By Dylan Butler
After going 0-for-4 in CHSAA Class A city championship games, the St. John's Prep boys' basketball coach didn't think he'd ever get back to the championship game, let alone win it. But after failing with stars such as Larry Jennings, Taliek Brown and last year with Bryant Dunston, the Red Storm returned to Iona College in New Rochelle and left with their elusive title. Four players scored in double figures – a testament to the Red Storm's team-first style of play – for St. John's Prep in a 68-51 win over Mount St. Michael Friday night. It is Gatto's first city championship since back-to-back titles in 1978 and 1979, when the school was called Mater Christi and his team was among the elite in the CHSAA.”I switched benches this year. I wanted to wear white (uniforms),” said Gatto, whose team fell to LaSalle in last year's title game 62-60. “I have the same Hush Puppies that I wear. I wore them for the last 13 games. I'm just proud of them, they played their guts out. We had to gut it out with five, six guys all year.”Richard Thomas led the senior-laden Red Storm with 22 points. Richard Jean Baptist had 19 points, Jelani Winfield had 16 and Chris Williams added 11. All four players were juniors on last year's team that fell to underdog LaSalle.”Before the season started I knew we'd be in the championship. We all knew we'd be up here in New Rochelle,” Thomas said. “I've been with these guys for four years and I had no doubt in my mind that these guys knew how to play basketball. We know Bryant Dunston is a good player and we lost him and since he left we all had to come closer together and that's what we did and won a championship.”St. John's Prep (25-1) led 31-26 at the half, but went on a 20-5 run to close out the third quarter and took a 53-36 lead into the fourth quarter.”We went into halftime acted like we were down five points,” Jean Baptist said. “We wanted to just come out and bury them and basically that's what we did.”Jason Hurt led Mount St. Michael (22-5) with 19 points, but hit just one 3-pointer in the second half after burying four treys in the first half.”I think we had kids pass the ball well and they played as a team,” Gatto said. “There were no egos, they pulled for each other.”St. John's Prep faces St. Anthony's (21-5) from Long Island in the state CHSAA Class A final Sunday at 2 p.m. at Fordham University.Reach Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 143.
