It's been nearly 50 years, and it has been 50 seasons that Bishop Ludden and CBA have been playing each other in boys basketball and every year they fight to the finish.
Safe to say, that was the case in tonight's matchup.
CBA and Bishop Ludden traded punches throughout the second half, but Bishop Ludden ended the game on an 11-0 run to beat the Brothers 52-41 at Bishop Ludden on Friday night.
Ludden led by 5 at the halftime break before CBA was able to tie it a few times at 37, 39 and 41 all. But the Gaelic Knights, who hadn't defeated CBA since 2005, found a way to seal the deal and win the game.
"As a high school player, I don't know how you don't get excited to play in this game" said Bishop Ludden Head Coach Pat Donnelly
"It's been going on since 1963 and that's the great part about this game that people come to this basketball game and they get into it. Both schools are excellent academic and athletic institutions and they have great kids on both sides of the court and that's what makes this a great rivalry" Donnelly added.
The clutch play came with just under a minute to go and Bishop Ludden nursing a 44-41 lead. Senior point guard Cameron Littlejohn showed moxie with a nice pump fake and drilled a three pointer that doubled the Gaelic Knight lead and dealt a blow that CBA could never come back from.
"It's a great feeling, it doesn't get any better" Littlejohn said about the big shot. "I just had a lot of emotion, my teammates told me to take the shot, so I took the shot and I did what I had to do" Littlejohn added.
Daniel Kaigler led the Knights with 14 points and Ben Hackett scored 13.
Will Brower scored 10 for CBA.
The best part though? There's still a return game to be played at CBA this season. That game, is on Super Bowl Sunday.
