The Bishop O'Connell Knights came up short in their bid to capture their first ever City Title championship. The Knights dropped a 75-71 overtime decision to the vastly improved Cardozo Clerks March 13 at George Washington University’s Smith Center.

The WCAC Tournament Champion plays the DCIAA Tournament Champion every March in what has become to be known as the City Title game.

O’Connell’s record dropped to 27-4 on the season. Cardozo improved to 16-8 overall with the win. Cardozo started the season slow, dropping five different games by three points or less.

O'Connell came into the contest as the third ranked team in the metro area by the Washington Post and as the 22nd ranked team in America by USA TODAY.

One week after winning the Virginia Independent State Tournament Title versus Paul VI High School and two weeks after winning the WCAC Tournament Championship versus Gonzaga, O'Connell roared to a 12-0 early first quarter lead versus Cardozo.

Freddie Stanback, Erik Smith, Dave Neal and Marcus Ginyard spearheaded the opening surge.

"After trailing 12-0, we switched to a man-to-man defense instead of continuing with our initial zone defense," said Cardozo Head Coach Henry Lindsey.

After Lindsey's strategic change, Cardozo closed out the first quarter with a 10-3 run, cutting O'Connell’s lead to 15-10.

"It was two great teams going at one another tonight," said O'Connell Head Coach Joe Wootten.

The Knights were outscored 16-10 in the second stanza and O'Connell headed to the locker room on the short end of a 26-25 score at intermission.

"It was an extremely physical game tonight," said Wootten.

O'Connell, which defeated Good Counsel, DeMatha and Gonzaga at the recent WCAC Tournament in order to qualify for the City Title Game, hit the gas pedal offensively in the third quarter and bolted to a 47-39 advantage.

During the Knights 22-point third quarter outburst, Stanback, Smith and Jeremy Trimble accounted for five points each. Ginyard and Ernie Lomax also contributed offensively.

"We played tough tonight, but at certain times we got away from O'Connell basketball," said Trimble.

With 5:01 remaining in the fourth quarter, Cardozo's Lester Williams knotted the score at 53. The Clerks eventually led 57-55, but Ginyard tied the score at 57 with an authoritative slam.

"I knew they were going to make a [fourth quarter] run at us tonight," said Wootten.

O'Connell’s Neal then knocked down a three pointer to narrow the Knights’ deficit to 64-63 with 13.5 seconds remaining. Williams gave the Clerks a 65-63 lead via a free throw with 6.9 seconds remaining.

Neal rebounded Williams miss on his second free throw attempt and with less than one second remaining Stanback's left handed layup deadlocked the contest at 65 and forced overtime much to the delight of the O'Connell faithful.

In the decisive four-minute overtime, Lomax's short jumper gave the Knights a 67-65 lead. Williams responded with a trey to put Cardozo up 68-67.

Cardozo's Lorenzo Lesesene converted a layup to increase Cardozo’s lead to three points. 70 - O'Connell 67. Ginyard, thanks to an assist from Smith, converted a layup to reduce the margin to one.

Lomax, who has signed to play football at Hampton, then knocked down a jumper off of the glass to give O'Connell its last lead at 71-70 with one minute remaining.

"We just didn't play tonight like we could have. We stopped running our offense [the way we are capable of]," said Lomax.

Down the stretch, Williams, who scored a game high 29 points, converted another jumper and Cardozo freshman Antonio Cooper converted three of four free throws to account for the final margin.

"Basketball is a game of runs and unfortunately they made the final run," said Trimble.

In the games final 61 seconds, O'Connell missed two shots from the floor and committed one costly turnover at midcourt.

"We kind of got away from what we do well. My credit goes to them. They hit some very difficult shots. They're a good team," said Wootten.

Spearheading the "Royal Blue and Silver" offensively: Stanback (17 points), Ginyard (14), Smith (12, five assists, five rebounds), Trimble (12), Lomax (nine, seven rebounds) and Neal (seven, 11 rebounds).

The Knights will conclude the season March 18-20 in the prestigious Alhambra Tournament in Cumberland, Md. It will mark the "swan song" for seniors Smith, Stanback, Lomax, Trimble and Noah Rogers.

Eight varsity players will return for Wootten next season: Neal, Ginyard, Majors, Moody, Johnson, Andy Stockel, Tyler Young and Jason Colenda.

"We're going to have to play our best at Alhambra in order to defend our 2003 Alhambra title," said Wootten.