Saturday evening at Benedictine the Highland Hawks made history, defeating O’Connell 56-51 in overtime to win the school’s first ever VISAA Division I Championship.
Winning has been commonplace for Highland the past few years. The Hawks won the 2023 Division II title, but this year decided to compete at the Division I level against Paul VI, O’Connell, and some of the other state heavyweights.
That decision was obviously made easier with the presence of 6’9″ senior Nate Ament, one of the top prospects in the country. Ament, despite physical play and extra defensive attention on him all night, led the Hawks with a hard-earned 24 points and 18 rebounds.
“It feels good, it means a lot to me,” said Ament after the victory. “I’m just grateful to have teammates that wanted to win just as bad as I do.”
It was certainly not an easy fight for second-seeded Highland, which was facing a fourth-seeded O’Connell team riding high after knocking off chief WCAC rival and top-seeded Paul VI the night before. Highland’s defense did the trick early, as the Hawks (38-5) grinded to a 15-4 lead. However, Ament went to the bench for a spell with foul trouble, and O’Connell rallied to cut the deficit to 23-20 at half.
While nerves perhaps played a part in both teams playing a fairly uneven first half, both teams played an intense, championship-caliber second half. O’Connell junior Darius Bivins only had three points in the first half, but started to create better looks in the second half, scoring 10 points. Knights’ senior Matt Dalton, who didn’t score in the first half, went off for 11 second half points as well.
A Dalton three-pointer in the fourth quarter gave O’Connell a 43-39 lead. Ament was battling hard inside and producing, but it was clear that wouldn’t be enough. The Hawks made no three-pointers in the first half, but got some very timely ones in the second half. Senior Jeremiah Gorham hit two, and Chance Perkins hit one from well beyond the top of the key to knot things at 46 with under a minute left.
Nate Ament doesnt miss free throws, knotted at 48, Hawks ball 2.6 seconds left… pic.twitter.com/Og8FvuuT75
— Novahoops.com (@novahoopsCom) March 1, 2025
The teams then went inside, and were rewarded. The Knights’ Shane Lincoln was fouled and hit two free throws, as did Ament to tie it at 48. Neither team could get great looks at the hoop the rest of regulation, and the game headed to overtime.
Defense and nerves were the story at the start of the four-minute overtime as neither squad could score, but Ament soon changed that calculus. He was again fouled inside and calmly sank two free throws. Dalton got to the line at the other end but missed his attempts. Then, Ament followed a missed three-pointer from Julian Rivera to make it 52-48.
O’Connell was far from done, as Bivins delivered a clutch three-pointer to get the Knights to within a point. That’s when Gorham hit a huge three-pointer, his third since halftime, to effectively ice the Hawks’ championship.
Julian Rivera finds Jeremiah Gorham for the three to ice the OT state championship for @Highland_Hoops. 56-51 in OT… pic.twitter.com/CvSamaQ9zN
— Novahoops.com (@novahoopsCom) March 1, 2025
“We’re a team that really relies on all of our guys,” said Gorham after the game. “I knew that at halftime–I had to really step up and make some plays in the second half. I just had to trust all the work that I’ve put in, as soon as I shot it felt like it was going in, it felt good.”
When asked if he could believe the defense left him that open, Gorham laughed and said, “No, I can’t.”
Ament actually missed a free throw late in overtime after making all of them up until that point, but by then it didn’t matter. The miss did serve as a reminder that the young man, now a local celebrity and perhaps the most highly-sought after still-undecided basketball recruit in the country, was human.
The emotion in his face as he posed with kids for photographs did as well. The game clearly meant a lot to Ament and his teammates, and to the Highland community.
“These past two years I’ve really made a family here,” Ament said. “Obviously I’m going to go to college next year, but these guys will always be with me, and I will always think about them, for sure.”
Perkins finished with 11 points and Gorham nine off his clutch three-pointers. Rivera had six points, clutch assists, and played some good defense, especially on Bivins in the first half. Josh Hamilton, a senior like the rest of the aforementioned Hawks, also was key on the defensive end before fouling out late.
Bivins led O’Connell (23-10) with 16 points.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| HIGHLAND | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| AMENT | 7-22 | 10-11 | 24 | 18 | 4 | |
| RIVERA | 3-7 | 0-0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | |
| GORHAM | 3-7 | 0-0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | |
| HAMILTON | 2-3 | 0-2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | |
| PERKINS | 5-12 | 0-0 | 11 | 2 | 0 | |
| Smith | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Taylor | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 21-53 | 10-13 | 56 | 28 | 8 | |
| Threes: Gorham 3-7, Perkins 1-6, Taylor 0-1, Ament 0-3, Rivera 0-4 | ||||||
| O’CONNELL | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| BIVINS | 6-16 | 0-0 | 16 | 6 | 3 | |
| DALTON | 4-7 | 1-3 | 11 | 7 | 0 | |
| CAULKNER | 4-6 | 0-0 | 10 | 4 | 0 | |
| KOELSCH | 1-4 | 0-2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| LINCOLN | 2-7 | 4-4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | |
| Edwards | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Bryant | 2-4 | 0-0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | |
| Minor | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Norton | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 19-48 | 5-9 | 51 | 28 | 5 | |
| Threes: Bivens 4-10, Dalton 2-3, Caulkner 2-4, Minor 0-1, Koelsch 0-1, Bryant 0-2, Lincoln 0-3 | ||||||