1925 Eastern States Tournament — Christian Brothers Academy

“Christian Brothers Academy of Syracuse boasts the greatest team in the history of the school,” The Post-Star reported on March 31, in advance of the 1925 Eastern States High School Basketball Tournament.

“C. B. A. comes here with an extraordinary record. It has played 18 games with the strongest parochial and high school teams and won 17 of them.”

St. Joseph’s Academy of Pittsfield, was C. B. A.’s opponent in the opening round.

St. Joseph’s, returning to the tournament for a second consecutive run at the 1925 Eastern States High School Basketball Game, had lost just one game in the season.

The team had recently won the Western Massachusetts championship

“St. Joseph’s is said to be greater this year than past year, and it’s record seems to prove it,” The Post-Star reported on April 2.

C. B. A. won 18–17 in a game heralded as “the real battle of the night.”

C. B. A. sprinted to 6–0 lead early in the first quarter and led 9–6 at half time.

St. Joseph’s tied the game 10-all in the third quarter, but C. B. A. took back the lead.

“Opening the final quarter, McNiece scored twice in rapid succession for the champions of last year (St. Joseph’s), and the score was knotted at 16-all. The teams at this point had about seven minutes left to play. And right here real basketball came into evidence,” The Glens Falls Times reported on April 3.

“With five of those seven minutes gone, Dunn scored a foul point for St. Joseph’s, giving the Massachusetts entry the lead for the first time during the game. Supporters of the team sensed a victory, and it appeared they had every license to expect such.”

The St. Joseph’s fans would be disappointed.

“But they reckoned without Dutton (of C. B.A.). With seconds remaining to play, Dutton secured the ball and proceeded to dribble through the entire opposition to score from the field,” the Times reported. “Dutton, who scored the first and last basket of the game, deserves much credit for for the Syracuse victory, he playing one of the best games a high school had ever played.”

C. B. A. defeated St. Joseph’s Military Academy of Manlius 18–9 in the semi-final round.

It was a defensive showcase.

“C. B. A. is not normally a defensive team, yet it its greatness last night lay more in its defensive achievements than in it offensive deeds,” The Post-Star reported on April 4. “So powerfully, so staunchly stood the C. B. A. defensive in the game’s first five minutes, that Bradley’s red-lettered group was confused by it, and the mists of confusion never drifted wholly from before the Manlius eyes, even in the game’s climax moments.”

The game came down to C. B. A. doing better at foul shots.

“Both teams played a defensive game and so perfect was this that a single field goal (two-point shot) was not scored during the first twenty-one minutes of the game,” the Times reported on April 4. “C. B. A. played a steady, clean, admirable battle. They deserve the victory they won and to the athletes within the team should go all credit.”

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