2002 Detroit Catholic Central

Season

Even though four of the six varsity players were lost to graduation, the 2002 team continued the success of their predecessors. Travelling 15,000 miles to play tournaments in nine states plus the District of Columbia, the team recorded championships in ten regular season competitions. In the process, the team posted 183 victories, a winning percentage of .906 and took the varsity program past the milestone of 1,500 games won.

The amazing twelve month period ended in East Lansing where it had begun. On April 19-20, the team went undefeated through two days of competition to win the Michigan state title for the eighth time in fifteen years and second time in twelve months. Not only did the team win the tournament, it also rewrote the record book. The squad posted both the highest single game score and the highest average game score in the fifteen year history of the competition. In addition, CC set the record for the widest margin of victory in a championship game by crushing Hartland High School 810-285 in the finals.

The team capped a remarkable season with an appearance in the PACE National Scholastic Championship Tournament at George Washington University in June. CC’s performance in the two days national competition was hardly less impressive than its exploits during the regular season. The squad posted eleven victories to reach the national finals before being edged 290-300 in the championship game. The 2002 team thus became the fifth squad in the history of the CC program to have competed in a national championship game.

Nationals

With a lineup of Frank Budde, Joe Galea, Jarin Philip, John Schultz, and Peter Troyan, this team finished second at the PACE NSC to Richard Montgomery, in an exciting final which went down to the final tossup and saw DCC lose the game by 10 points (DCC answered the final tossup, on "fugues," and 30ed the bonus, but needed a power and 30 to tie the game and force overtime).