Three years ago they were 4-16, struggling to compete.

Now, the North Haven High School boys’ basketball team is the Southern Connecticut Conference champion, overcoming top-seeded Hillhouse 41-34 in the conference’s title game on March 2 before 1,180 at the TD Bank Sports Center.

“Words cannot describe this feeling,” said North Haven head coach Pete Civitello afterward.

North Haven had not played in a conference title game since competing in the now-defunct Housatonic League tournament championship in 1994. The third-seeded Indians had never even made the SCC postseason tournament semi-finals before defeating second-seeded Sheehan 70-66 the night before.

Hillhouse, the defending SCC tournament champions, had demolished fifth-deeded Notre Dame 73-34 in their semi-final match-up, and were heavily favored to capture their second straight title. However, North Haven’s tenacity on both ends of the court, coupled with the Academics horrendous shooting night, allowed the Indians to achieve the upset.

“To beat a team like Hillhouse in the finals, the team that is the figurehead of our league, it’s unbelievable,” Civitello said.

Behind for the first three quarters, the Indians clawed back to tie the score at 29 apiece with a two-point bucket from Billy McDonald to open the fourth quarter. McDonald’s score signaled the first momentum shift in the Indians’ favor, and North Haven just missed taking the lead after several lackluster Hillhouse possessions.

Hillhouse’s Tavon Allen sank a three-pointer with 5:30 remaining in the game to put the Academics up 32-29. However, Indians senior Brian Salzillo answered back, netting a three-point bucket of his own with several hands in his face, evening the score.

The Academics missed several three-pointers on their following possession, indicative of their evening, as Hillhouse shot a miserable 6-35 from behind the arc. After the final miss of the possession, the Academics collected one of their 16 offensive rebounds, but accidentally passed the ball directly to North Haven senior Joe Setaro.

On the resulting Indian possession, Salzillo, who led Indian scorers with 13 points, rolled in a floater over several defenders for North Haven’s first lead of the game, 34-32, with 3:30 remaining.

Hillhouse’s Fred Wilson was then fouled but missed both free-throws. North Haven’s defense clamped down on the low-post all evening, daring the Academics to shoot, and as a result Hillhouse was limited to just 0-3 on free-throws, compared to the Indians’ 12-14 performance from the line.

After the Academics rebounded Wilson’s second miss and muffed several more three-pointers, Salzillo took the ball down court and dished a behind-the-back pass to fellow senior Dave Sims for the easy low-post score and 36-32 lead, bringing the North Haven fans to their feet.

Hillhouse missed three more three-pointers, but finally scored again with less than a minute remaining after Tavon Allen tipped in a two-pointer. Setaro in-bounded the ball to Salzillo, who briefly lost track of it in the air, but regained possession just in time to be fouled. With North Haven in the bonus, Salzillo shot one-and-one and sank the first for a 37-34 advantage with 30.2 seconds left.

Hillhouse’s Jengodji Gates then rattled a three-pointer out of the hoop to barely miss tying the score. Setaro, who would finish with four points and 11 rebounds, came down with a big rebound and was fouled. He made both shots for the 39-34 lead.

Wilson then missed another three-pointer for Hillhouse, effectively ending the game. Indian senior Dave Sims, who finished with eight points and seven rebounds, came down with the ball and was fouled with 1.9 seconds remaining. Sims made both shots for the 41-34 lead, and after the final two seconds elapsed, the North Haven players and coaches rushed mid-court for a celebratory scrum.

Setaro ran straight for his coach and lifted Civitello into the air in an embrace of celebration. “You got to love it,” Setaro said afterward. “There is nothing better. You couldn’t dream of anything better than this.”

“We all played together,” Setaro added. “We all played as one and we came out with the win.”

Seniors Setaro, Sims, and Salzillo were all part of the 4-16 campaign three years ago.

“Every season, this is what we dreamed of,” Setaro said. “Every season we worked harder and harder. And then we came in after it and got it.”

Sims agreed with his senior teammate.

“I can’t even explain it,” Sims said afterward. “For the last three years, coach kept saying that we could get here and get it. And we finally got it and it feels great. This means everything.”

After the victory, Salzillo was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. “The team did it for me,” he said about the honor. “They kept getting me the ball and allowed me to score.”

“Every year we’re been building and building,” Salzillo added. “From four wins to 12 to 19 this year – we’ve been working hard over the summer and getting it done.”

North Haven got it done on the night by eating up clock against their taller and quicker Hillhouse opponents so that the game would remain close. “We did not want to get into a running game against them,” Salzillo said.

With no shot clock in high school basketball, the Indians wisely slowed down the game, taking as long as a minute off the clock on some possessions before attacking the basket. “Before the second half, we talked about pace and patience, and when to go and when to slow,” Civitello said.

The Indians also sought mismatches on offense. “We thought that if we could stretch them out on defense, we could get good match-ups with their big guys against our small guys,” Civitello said. “We wanted to run by them and take time off the clock.”

Additionally, North Haven diversified their defense. “We came out with man-to-man to surprise them,” Civitello said. “We’ve been primarily zone defense all year. They’ve been shooting their threes so well, so we thought that man-to-man could keep them off guard. Then we sprung the 3-2 zone on them at the right time. Their threes were not as good, and I told my players to hang around and keep it close and see how it goes.”

It worked. Hillhouse was held to 14-58 shooting on the night, including 6-12, 3-16, 1-1, 3-16, and 0-8 performances from their starters. North Haven shot 13-34, with sophomores McDonald and Dominic Schioppo chipping in with 10 and 6 points, respectively.

Civitello came in as coach three years ago when his three seniors were sophomores, and together, all four helped take the program to an SCC championship. “I saw that they had a love of the game of basketball,” Civitello said of the seniors, “and that we had some good underclassmen. I thought we might have something with them. I look at them as my own kids. They’re good kids on and off the court.”

North Haven and Hillhouse both came out with a stiff defense, resulting in a 7-5 Academics’ advantage after the first quarter. Hillhouse took a 22-17 lead into halftime, but led only 29-27 at the end of the third quarter.