McClure lifts St. Thomas boys basketball to win over Campbell

DOVER – There came a point during the fourth quarter of Wednesday’s game against Campbell that St. Thomas Aquinas High School boys basketball coach Dave Morissette stopped asking his white-hot sophomore guard Cole McClure to call a play and decided to just let him decide.

That’s the special kind of talent Morissette knows he has in a 15-year-old kid from Exeter, who was named the Division III Player of the Year as a freshman, and McClure added another memorable night to his young career.

McClure broke the game open by draining 17 of his-career high 39 points in the fourth to lead defending D3-champion St. Thomas to a 63-55 victory over Campbell.

“There was one point I asked him what play he wanted and he was thinking and I said I’m not calling a play, I’m just going to let them play,” Morissette said. “We ran a motion and not only did he hit his own shots, he hit kids for a couple of layups and that really sealed the game.”

McClure connected for three of his seven 3-pointers during St. Thomas’ 28-point fourth quarter.

His effort also helped St. Thomas (7-2) avenge a 64-52 loss to Campbell (9-2) on Jan. 7., and came off the heels of last week’s 50-48 buzzer-beating loss at Belmont.

“We didn’t want to be tense at all, we wanted to go out and have fun out there and that's what we did (Wednesday),” McClure said. “We got so many guys that stepped up defensively and got rebounds. I might have had a lot of points in the scorebook, but this was a good team win.”

Campbell coach Justin DiBenedetto said he was pleased with his team's defensive approach against McClure through the first three quarters of the night, but there was only so much his team could do in its continuing attempt to contain him.

Logan Rice led Campbell with 23 points, while Jack Breton added 16 points.

“I thought we played pretty good defense, but at the end of the day he just played better offense than our defense,” DiBenedetto said. “He’s the best player in the division and probably the state so you have to give it up to him. That’s pretty good from a 15-year-old kid.”

St. Thomas broke open the game a bit by taking a 37-32 lead into a fourth quarter in which McClure owned. He opened the frame with a pair of 3-pointers and added a step-back jumper at the top of the key to give St. Thomas a 47-38 lead midway through the quarter.

“It was a good feeling,” McClure said. “It felt like every shot I shot had a chance of going in.”

Morissette has been impressed with the unflappable nature that McClure plays with and set the perfect example for a younger team this year that McClure has taken leadership over.

“If he’s scoring 10 or 40 you can’t tell; he’s steady-eddy,” Morissette said. “You can punch him, you can tackle him and you can’t tell. He’s going to keep coming.”

McClure has embraced his increased responsibilities and is ready to lead the Saints in their title defense as the season nears a final stretch.

“I scored last year but now I’m leading my team,” McClure said. “We’re definitely getting better and by tournament time in February, we’ll be locked in.”