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TOMS RIVER - All season, Middletown South senior Pat O'Connell had to read and hear about how great the guards were for seemingly every opponent with little mention of the Eagles' backcourt, so by the time the Shore Conference Tournament hit, he had enough.

On Wednesday night at the Ritacco Center, the senior point guard and his backcourt mate, senior Jake Brodsky, drove home their point emphatically against Monsignor Donovan star junior guard Sean Grennan and the Griffins' backcourt. O'Connell finished with a team-high 17 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field and Brodsky added 10 points to send the second-seeded Eagles to their first SCT final since 1979 with a 47-37 win over sixth-seeded Monsignor Donovan (18-4).

The Eagles (18-6), who have never won an SCT title, will take on defending champion and top-seeded Christian Brothers Academy, which beat Middletown South twice during the regular season in Class A North, in the SCT final at 8 p.m. on Saturday at the Ritacco Center. The Eagles will take a seven-game winning streak into a game against a team that has won 41 straight games against Shore Conference competition, and they will have a highly-motivated point guard leading them.

Senior point guard Pat O'Connell and the Middletown South backcourt felt a little disrespected and they took it out on Monsignor Donovan in a 47-37 win that put the Eagles into their first Shore Conference Tournament final since 1979. (Photo by Bill Normile).

"The whole year, I've been very mad because I've been underrated, I guess,'' said O'Connell, who will continue his career at Division II Caldwell College. "I've played with a chip on my shoulder every single game. I hate when they talk about other guards in the Shore. I'd like to consider myself as one of the best along with them.''

"I think a lot of our guys feel that way,'' said Middletown South coach Kevin Cullen. "They're pretty cerebral kids - they read the newspapers, they read All Shore Media, they know what's going on, and I do believe they think they deserve a little more credit. To be honest with you, I think they deserve a little more credit as well, so I'm glad they are using this opportunity to shine and really bring it home. (O'Connell) is such a special point guard. The way he sees the floor and the way he finishes is unbelievable and people forget he is a scholarship player (to Caldwell).''

The Eagles led 27-23 heading into the fourth quarter, when Brodsky helped bring it home with seven of his 10 points and O'Connell and senior forward Kyle Cancillieri (8 points, 14 rebounds) each had four points. The Griffins used a match-up zone to hold Grennan to 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting from the field, as junior center Anthony Duszczak led Monsignor Donovan with a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds. Overall, the Eagles held the Griffins to 14-for-38 (36.8 percent) shooting from the field, including 2-for-14 from 3-point range, and forced 17 turnovers. Their defense was good enough to overcome nine missed free throws and 18-for-42 (42.9 percent) shooting on their end.

"We're very comfortable in our match-up zone and we just tweaked it a little bit for Grennan,'' Cullen said. "Generally we don't deny the next pass, so we were working a little bit at denying him the ball wherever he was on the floor. Then as we pressured him, we always had two guys behind, so it was almost like we were playing a triangle defense on him alone, and I think it frustrated him a little bit.''

"The middle was so open that I think most of our success was when we passed it to the middle and went high-low or made a play,'' said Monsignor Donovan coach Mike Kearney. "There were a couple drives we didn't finish and a couple kickouts we didn't hit. Sometimes the more a defense just kind of stands there and looks different, it can be quite confusing not only for the players but for the coaches, I guess.''

A putback by Duszczak cut Middletown South's lead to 28-27 with 6:05 left in the game before the Eagles went a long way toward icing the game with a 9-2 run that extended the lead to 37-29 with 2:25 left in the game. O'Connell and Brodsky led the way during that run, as Brodsky had a lay-up and a free throw, and O'Connell and Cancillieri took turns assisting one another on transition lay-ups.

A 3-pointer by Monsignor Donovan senior guard Kevin Carter cut the lead to five points with 2:04 remaining, but Brodsky came back with four straight points for an insurmountable 41-32 lead with 1:30 left in the game. As Monsignor Donovan got more desperate, it began hoisting 3-pointers, which allowed the Eagles to get runouts in transition for easy baskets or fouls.

"When they were missing those shots, it gave us confidence to run and get down the court,'' O'Connell said.

"That was basically a killer,'' Kearney said. "We didn't do much on the offensive boards in that situation and instead of a game where you can foul a guy and think you can get right back in it, it got a little out of reach.''

To cap it all off, junior forward Will Siegfried drew a roar from a vocal Middletown South student section when he threw down his first high school dunk and was fouled inside the final minute on his way to 9 points on 4-for-6 shooting to give the Eagles' faithful a feeling they haven't had in 31 years.

"Once I saw the press and they were leaving me free, as soon as I saw the opening I figured I would go up for it,'' Siegfried said about his dunk. "That was a big exclamation point.''

"He's missed a couple (dunks) this year and we've been knocking on him, but he finally got one,'' Cancillieri said before smiling.

Middletown South led 19-14 at the half as O'Connell asserted himself immediately with seven second-quarter points on repeated drives into the lane in which the 6-foot-1 guard got all the way to the rim.

"The entire year, we've seen all the teams pack it in, but when I drove in there tonight, I saw it was open so I just kept going,'' O'Connell said.

"Kevin Carter and Cory (Crowe) do a really good job on dribblers, but (O'Connell) does such a good job of coming in and then going out and kind of yo-yoing you and then getting by you, so it's next to impossible to cover him the whole time - with our guys at least,'' Kearney said. "We didn't show early (on the pick-and-roll), and I think part of it was that we were worried about Cancillieri.''

Middletown South also forced 10 first-half turnovers by the Griffins to offset a 9-for-24 shooting performance from the field before the break. With the Eagles' extending their zone to blanket Grennan, Duszczak had success in the middle, as he brought the Griffins within 20-19 off a lob midway through the third quarter. A bucket by Grennan cut the lead to 25-23 late in the third quarter, but O'Connell came right back with another foray into the lane for a lay-up with 17 seconds left in the period for a 27-23 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

"I think there was talk that Grennan was better than Pat, and Pat wanted to prove himself and take over the game,'' Cancillieri said. "He did a great job out there.''

O'Connell and Brodsky took it from there, bringing the Eagles to a place they haven't been since they lost to Red Bank in the SCT final in 1979 in their only appearance in the championship game since the school opened in 1976. Monsignor Donovan, meanwhile, will turn its attention to the NJSIAA Non-Public South A Tournament, where the Griffins hope to unseat CBA as the champion after Middletown South made Wednesday night a memorable one in Eagle-land.

"When that buzzer went off, it was the greatest feeling ever,'' O'Connell said before grinning.

A vocal Middletown South student section was delirious after the Eagles reached their first SCT final since before any of them were even born. (Photo by Bill Normile).

"It's a great grudge match,'' Cullen said. "It's really a crosstown rivalry if you think about it. We're excited to get one more crack at them.''

"We always want to get CBA,'' Cancillieri said. "We let one slip away earlier this year, but I think getting one in the finals is even better.''

This senior-laden group has been a special one at Middletown South, as it has had the best seasons since that 1979 team had the best campaign in school history. When they were sophomores, they were part of a team that won a Central Jersey Group III title in 2008 for the first sectional title since 1979, and now they look to go out by making school history with the Eagles' first SCT title. This run is extra special for O'Connell, who was still at Red Bank Catholic in 2008 before transferring after his sophomore year.

"We're not done,'' Cancillieri said. "We got Saturday, and we're going to win that, and then states again.''

While the Eagles are certainly confident heading into their showdown, O'Connell knows what everyone will say. And he and the Eagles will eat it up.

"We first heard it when they said we shouldn't have had a bye, and then we heard it against Long Branch (in the Round of 16), a team that people were saying we were going to lose to,'' O'Connell said. "Then we were going to lose to RFH (in the quarterfinals), and of course everybody said we were going to lose to Mon Don. I just can't wait to see what they're going to say about us against CBA.''

Box score

Middletown South 47, Msgr. Donovan 37

Msgr. Donovan (37): Grennan 4 1-2 10, Duszczak 8 2-2 18, Carter 1 0-0 3, Milana 0 2-4 2, Martin 0 2-2 2, Crowe 0 0-0 0, Lorenzo 1 0-0 2, Rista 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 7-10 37.

Midd. South (47): Cancillieri 3 2-4 8, O'Connell 7 2-3 17, Siegfried 4 1-2 9, Brodsky 3 3-6 10, Callori 0 1-2 1, Lawrence 0 0-0 0, Gisondi 1 0-1 2. Totals: 18 9-18 47.

Msgr. Donovan (18-4) 6 8 9 14 - 37

Midd. South (18-6) 10 9 8 20 - 47

Three-pointers: (MS) O'Connell, Brodsky; (MD) Grennan, Carter.