Overtime

Tickets for tomorrow night’s FCIAC boys basketball championship between Trinity Catholic and Stamford High School will be on sale only at Warde, beginning at 6:30 p.m., an hour before the start of the game.

Neither school will be selling tickets. The price is $7.

Because the Stamford High School boys basketball team is playing in the FCIAC championship game tomorrow night at 7 p.m., the girls team’s home state playoff game has been moved from 7 p.m. to 5.

The biggest news in the Stamford sports world would appear to be the FCIAC Tournament boys basketball championship between Trinity Catholic and Stamford High tomorrow night.

But there may be a bigger story. Stamford Schools Superintendent Joshua Starr currently has it on his calendar to attend the Stamford High girls basketball team’s state tournament game tomorrow night.

How did this potentially monumental event take place? Nora Duffin, the mother of a Stamford player, emailed an invitation to Starr, who during the recent battle over budget cuts to the city’s athletic department cast himself in controversy when he admitted he never has attended a sporting event or recognized any teams that won championships.

Here is Starr’s response to Duffin: “Thanks for the invitation. I’ve put this Thursday’s game on my calendar, I hope to be able to make it. Josh.”

Color us skeptical based on his record, but it would be nice if Starr actually shows up and makes it a point to try to periodically attend games.

The accomplishments of Stamford sports teams have been a source of pride for the community. It should be for Starr as well.

We will monitor the situation. If Starr shows, Duffin will have pulled off one of the biggest upsets ever in the city.

Stamford High School boys basketball coach Jim Moriarty was carrying a crumpled piece of paper in the locker room following tonight’s FCIAC Tournament semifinal game with Bridgeport Central. It was a xerox of a story that appeared on the Internet, in which the Hilltoppers’ Jerome Parkins said he wanted another shot at Trinity Catholic.

Parkins went on to say that if the Hilltoppers played the way they did the first time against Stamford he didn’t see how they could lose and that the Black Knights were just a stepping stone to the Crusaders.

Parkins is probably feeling differently tonight. Led by Chris Evans and Mark Ellis, the Black Knights played a terrific second half and rolled to a 68-56 win over Central to earn their first trip to the final since 2003.

The win was the 400th of Stamford coach Jim Moriarty’s career. His players seemed more excited by the milestone than he did.

“We wanted this one for Mo,” said Evans, who scored a game-high 26 points, referring to his coach by his nickname. “For us guys to get him his 400th, I’m so happy to be a part of it.”

“It took me 16 years to get from 200 to 400,” said Moriarty, who has been at the school 31 years. “I don’t like to talk about it. It’s not about me, it’s the kids.”

While Evans played his customary great game, the Black Knights’ biggest star was 6-foot-6 center Mark Ellis, who finished with 17 points and a career-high 21 rebounds.

“There were some comments by Bridgeport Central that lit a fire under everybody,” Ellis said. “I think we are a team to be reckoned with. I had a lot of emotion in me.”

Ellis has been called the X-factor this season. When he plays well the Black Knights have an added dimension and are much tougher to defend. When he struggles it puts more of a burden on Evans and the other players.

The Black Knights were brimming with confidence after the game and probably left Fairfield Warde feeling even more assured after Trinity Catholic sleepwalked to a 54-46 win over St. Joseph in the second game.

The Crusaders, the state’s top-ranked team, blew a 13-point second-half lead and briefly fell behind before Tevin Baskin rallied the team with 18 of his 21 points in the second half, including 12 straight for the team during one stretch in the fourth quarter.

In 16 years covering the team I have only seen Trinity coach Mike Walsh as angry as he was last night about two or three times before. And he had every right to be.

The Crusaders, who will be playing in their seventh straight final and going for their fifth title in that span, including their second in a row, were completely out of sync on offense, forcing shots, putting the ball in the wrong player’s hands in the wrong spots, and looking lost in the half-court set. There were many times when the Cadets looked like the hungrier team.

Trinity was able to get by because of its superior talent. It is doubtful it will be as fortunate with a repeat effort in Thursday night’s all-Stamford final, a repeat of the 2003 title game. Moriarty has never won an FCIAC title.

“It might have been better if I could have won 400 on Thursday night,” Moriarty said. “I’ll be happy if it’s 401.”

Due to a transmission error one of the stories in today’s Advocate incorrectly had tonight’s FCIAC Boys Basketball Tournament semifinal games at Sacred Heart University.

As we originally reported, the games are at Fairfield Warde. Stamford plays Bridgeport Central at 6, followed by Trinity Catholic against St. Joseph.

I’ll be happy if I don’t see another drop of snow for a long time — we’re talking years, not months — but the one benefit of today’s storm is the semifinal and final round of the FCIAC Tournament getting moved from Sacred Heart to Fairfield Warde.

Almost no one wanted to see the Final Four at the Pitt Center. It has no buzz that makes the players feel they are in a special venue, the cost is too high for the benefits and parking is an absolute nightmare.

In past years when the games was played at SHU, the school was on break. This week that is not the case, and fans were going to have to park across the street at Notre Dame High School and be transported to the gym on two buses. Can you imagine that mess?

Dave Schulz and his staff does a great job of hosting the games at Fairfield Warde. The FCIAC will be getting more bang for a lesser buck.