Classical's last-second basket captures boys state championship. Here's how it happened.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Down one point with 24.7 seconds left, Classical knew it was going to beat La Salle and win the Rhode Island Interscholastic League Boys Basketball State Championship.

It wasn’t arrogance or a sense of overconfidence. It was faith in each other, something that has been built during the season. Jordan Duke told his teammates they were going to score and win the game so that every single player believed it. And that’s what the Purple did.

The hero Sunday was Devin Sone, a sophomore wrapping up his first season as a member of Classical’s rotation. He kept the game going with a hustle offensive rebound and, when the ball was swung around, touching the hands of each Classical player on the court, Sone took a shot that will live in program history. The 3-pointer from the left corner snapped the net with 0.9 of a second to go. And when La Salle could not get a shot off in that time, the Purple were state champs with a 67-66 win.

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“I don’t even know what happened,” Classical senior Azzy Harrison said. “That last shot by Devin was so unexpected. I was so excited and it was crazy.”

“All these reps I took with my dad, it’s paying off,” Sone said. “That shot, it didn’t even feel real to me. When I released it, it was like slow motion to me.”

The third matchup between Classical and La Salle might have been the best of the bunch. The Rams jumped out early and led by 11 after the first quarte;, the Purple came back to cut the deficit to two at halftime and the teams were tied after the third quarter.

“We were just playing basketball,” Harrison said. “We’ve faced this team three times and our game plan going into this game was to just be us.

“We were us the whole season and were undefeated.”

The final 90 seconds of this game will not be forgotten.

Classical had a five-point lead with 2:52 left to play but La Salle stormed back. The Rams cut the deficit to a point at 64-63 after a pass from Jacob Marcone led to a Lucas Gillis layup. La Salle came up with a stop. Marcone, who hit the game-winning jumper in last year’s Division I championship game, buried a 3-pointer from the right corner with 30 seconds left.

It was déjà vu for Classical coach John Kavanagh, who witnessed Hendricken hit a late 3-pointer to send the 2022 state title game into overtime, and the Hawks ultimately prevailed.

But when the coach gathered his players, there was a calm sense among the group and everyone settled in when Duke confidently told everyone they were going to score.

“I thought we were going to lose but then Jordan was telling me, 'Bro, we’re going to make this next shot,' ” Harrison said. “He was the only person in that huddle giving everyone confidence.

“When we hear positive messages from our brothers, it hits differently.”

“The crazy part is after Marcone hit the shot, they come to the bench and Jordan’s telling them we’re going to score here,” Kavanagh said. “That kind of gave me confidence. I got down, we went right into our plan and there wasn’t any panic or anyone pointing that ‘Oh, you didn’t do this or that.’ There was none of that.

“We just stuck together in the moment like we have all year.”

On the final play, Classical was looking for any bucket it could get. Winding the clock down, Harrison went to the hoop but was defended effectively by Gillis. The shot hit the front of the rim and Sone went racing in, grabbed the rebound and, as he was falling to the ground, passed it back out to Abdul Evans.

“The objective was to crash the boards,” Sone said. “Eliezer, he got the ball and kicked it to the win. I just had to hit it.”

Evans went baseline but La Salle’s defense didn’t give an inch. Evans nearly turned it over trying to pass to Delbrey, but he collected the ball, dribbled to his left and threw a pass to Sone, who was wide open on the left wing.

Sone didn’t think about the shot. He just fired.

“The moment it left his hand, I was like, ‘That’s good,' " Kavanagh said. “It was nothing but net.”

“I knew it was going in. Devin hits those shots,” Harrison said. “He’s a 3-point shooter. He’s my guy.”

“I’ve dreamed about it many times. I had a dream before this, last night, too, me just hitting the shot,” Sone said. “It’s just special to me.”

La Salle tried to come up with a last-second play, but the ball was tipped out of bounds with 0.2 of a second left. The Rams then tried to run a tip play and, as if the game wasn’t crazy enough already — the pass to the rim went directly in, giving the ball back to Classical.

The Purple inbounded and celebrated.

And after the season they’ve had, they did that the same way they played — as a team.

“The chemistry is there. The trust is there and we just win,” Sone said. “We execute.”

“That last possession, that was a testament to this team,” Kavanagh said. “I think all five guys touched the ball at some point and they got a wide-open three. It was amazing.”

LA SALLE, 66

Jacob Marcone 4-9 0-0 12; Lucas Gillis 1-5 0-0 2; Liam Simpson 4-9 3-6 11; Timoy Stitchell 7-14 5-5 19; Rex Zadrozny 7-13 4-4 18; Ali Abdur-Razzak 1-1 0-0 2; Thomas Malloy 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 25-56 12-15 66.

CLASSICAL, 67

Jordan Duke 5-11 4-4 14; Abdul Evans 4-9 0-0 10; Azzy Harrison 6-16 2-3 14; Devin Sone 5-9 0-0 12; Eliezer Delbrey 6-11 4-6 17. Totals: 26-56 10-13 67.

Halftime — La Salle 37-35. 3-pointers — La Salle 4-14 (Marcone 4-9, Stitchell 0-3, Malloy 0-2), Classical 5-15 (Evans 2-5, Sone 2-5, Delbrey 1-3, Harrison 0-2). Rebounds — La Salle 39 (Simpson 17), Classical 27 (Duke 11). Assists — La Salle 13 (Stitchell 5), Classical 7 (Harrison, Delbrey 3). Turnovers — La Salle 13 (Simpson 4), Classical 6 (Sone 3). Steals — La Salle 2 (Simpson, Stitchell 1), Classical 9 (Harrison 5). Blocks — La Salle 1 (Simpson), Classical 1 (Duke).

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Classical beats La Salle in 2024 RIIL Boys Basketball State Championship