Father Judge makes history in earning its first boys’ basketball state crown: ‘This cements their legacy’

HERSHEY — In November, during the early moments of the first practice, Father Judge coach Chris Roantree called his team’s attention to the ceiling and the lonely Columbia blue banner with the digits 1998 emblazed on it in Sheridan red under Catholic League championships.

He reminded his team that it had been a long time, since he played for the legendary Bill Fox at Judge, that the Crusaders had won anything in basketball. For years, Roantree would look up at that lonely banner while cultivating a team that could be the first to have something of its own — a PIAA state championship.

On Saturday night, the Crusaders made history against an old foe, traditional Catholic League powerhouse Roman Catholic, and captured what Roantree envisioned in November with the PIAA Class 6A state title after a 71-60 victory at the Giant Center.

It’s the first state basketball title in Judge history, in a season in which the Crusaders reached the state playoffs for the first time.

Senior guard Kevair Kennedy led the way, scoring a game-high 29 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go with 15 of 17 free throws. Junior guard Derrick Morton-Rivera added 19, while a stifling defense held Roman to 38.5% shooting (20-for-52).

Roman knocked out Judge last season in the Catholic League semifinals, not only wiping out the Crusaders in the league playoffs but ending their season since there are three Class 6A state qualifiers out of District 12.

This season, the Crusaders (24-7) beat the Cahillites three times, once during the regular season, once in the Catholic League championship, and again to win the state title.

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“It was motivating, because I remember walking off that court after we lost to Roman at the Palestra my junior year,” Kennedy said. “It’s why I remember Coach [Roantree] telling us to look up the first day of practice, and him telling us that we could make history by adding another banner up there. The pain I felt walking off the court at the Palestra created this drive. We didn’t fulfill our potential, so it caused us to work our butts off this summer and made me mature more.

“We knew back in the summer we could do this. This means a lot knowing that I’m on the first team that won a state title at Judge.”

Roman (25-6) was led by Sammy Jackson with 17 points and Shareef Jackson’s 15, along with 10 rebounds. The Cahillites’ last lead was 28-26 with 3 minutes, 44 seconds left in the first half, before the teams went into halftime knotted at 36. After Kennedy started the second half nailing a pair of free throws to put the Crusaders up, 38-36, they never trailed again.

“Chris [Roantree] does a great job and they were the best team all year long,” Roman coach Chris McNesby said. “Judge has senior leaders, and you could see tonight Kennedy was the best point guard in the state. I told our younger guys tonight that we can take from that a little bit. We had some foul trouble, but Kennedy was the main difference. This is tough, with Shareef graduating.

“He represents everything that is good about our program and Roman, and he has some good things coming. But we have a good group back.”

Roman got within 55-53 with 6:38 to play on a Sammy Jackson three-pointer, and was within 61-57 on a CJ Miller layup with 2:29 left. As time wound down, with Roman forced to foul, Kennedy clinched it with eight straight free throws for the final difference.

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“We did it,” said Roantree, a 1999 Judge graduate who is in his fourth year as head coach. “Back when I played, there was no state title [for Catholic League teams]. For me, it was so important that the seniors went out winners. They transformed our culture. They transformed our program. They put us on top. I didn’t want to have a bad feeling tonight for them.

“This cements their legacy. We came into this year real confident. We thought we could be one of the best teams in the state. We just needed to prove it. To beat Roman three times in one season — and Chris [McNesby] is one of the best coaches if not the best coach in our league — is a pretty big deal for us. We knew we had not won in a long time.”

Roantree reminded his team of that on the first day of practice.

“This is the best team in Judge history,” he said. “No one can dispute that. You can’t take away being the first to do something.”

Signified by a new Columbia blue and Sheridan red banner in the rafters.