All season long, Catasauqua head boys' basketball coach Eric Snyder believed his team would be successful by allowing 50 points or less. For the most part, his assumption was correct.

When the Roughies gave up 47 points to a sizzling Notre Dame squad Saturday afternoon in the PIAA District 11 Class 2A final, Snyder figured it might not be his teams afternoon.

Notre Dame stormed out to an 18-2 lead in the opening quarter and kept the pedal pushed down the rest of the way as they captured their second consecutive title both times over Catty in a 82-71 triumph.

Catty managed to cut the deficit to under 10 points on a handful of occasions, but Notre Dame responded with timely baskets that kept a five-game winning streak alive against the Roughies. Senior center Vincent Eze, who hit the winning shot against the Roughies in the Colonial League final, scored 12 of his 16 points in the opening half, and fellow senior Tanner Reed scored a game-high 31 points.

Notre Dame shot 63 percent from the field in the opening half and hit six of eight three pointers during the span, while Catty shot 36 percent.

"We didn't hit a shot until five minutes into the game," said Snyder, who won his 300th career game this year. "I don't think we played intense enough. We did get a hand in their face when they put up shots.

"But Eze seemed to be hitting everything. He reminded me of (NBA Hall of Fame and former Boston Celtics center) Bill Russell. He was all over the place and is playing like the best center in the Lehigh Valley. And Reed is just a pure shooter and he was on.

"But we didn't quit. We would start to make a run, but we couldn't keep it going. They would also hit a big shot at the right time.

"I guess they (Notre Dame) have our number. We get into three finals the last two years and lose to them. They also hit a three-point shot in the final second of a regular season game last year that knocked us out of the league playoffs."

After the game, Snyder had some regrets about not opening the game with a zone defense. He also contemplated how the game might have differed with Ra'Von Burton in the lineup as the senior missed the entire season due to a knee injury.

"In hindsight, maybe we should have opened with a zone," Snyder said. "But the times we went into a zone, they hit some big threes. They were just on fire and came out with intensity. Ra'Von (Burton) might have been the guy who could have shutdown Reed.

"We would have looked for him to score, but to go out and play defense. We could have possibly played a box-and-one with him as the chaser."

Overall, the Roughies finished with an overall 17-9 mark this year, winning 11 of their last 14 games. Paryss Marshall, who will be one of three senior starters moving on, led the Roughies with 19 points and fellow senior Brandon Purrone who played the season with a torn ACL in one of his knees after injuring it during football season added 12.

Junior Dave Wetherhold, who will return as a starter, chipped in with 16 points, and sophomore Kevin Bond, who will also be back, had 14.

"I am really proud of our kids and how they played all year," noted Snyder. "I told them in the pregame speech how we were 5-5 around Christmas and didn't really know where we were going. We didn't have Ra'Von and Purrone was basically playing on one leg. He (Purrone) really played well during the summer and it hurt not having him 100 percent this winter."

Along with Wetherhold and Kevin Bond, the Roughies will also return juniors Dakota Schiffer who was invaluable as the team's sixth man and one of their leading scorers -along with Ricky Houser and Sean Klobosits.

"Schiffer helped us immensely," stated Snyder. "He really came into his own during the summer. We looked to try and get Houser and Klobosits more playing time, but they were behind the Bonds and Paryss (Marshall), who all began to get into a nice groove."

Ironically if the Roughies would have captured the title, they would have met Delaware Valley Charter, who they played at Cedar Beach this past summer.

"We played them on a day that seemed like it was 100 degrees and only had five guys," recalled Snyder. "We played them even for 32 of 40 minutes.

"But Notre Dame was just the better team (Saturday). We have some shooters and some size coming back for next year. We do have a lot to be proud of from this past year."