Thornton rallies to beat Moore Catholic in Chick-fil-A finale

NASHUA - James Ek hit seven 3-pointers and scored 29 points to lead the Thornton Academy boys basketball team to a 72-68 overtime victory over Moore Catholic in the championship game of the Chick-fil-A Holiday Basketball Tournament at Nashua North Thursday.

Ek hit the game-tying 3 with four seconds left in regulation and then scored four points in overtime, including two free throws with five seconds left to put the game out of reach.

Dakota Tarbox added 16 points for the Golden Trojans, who won the tournament title for the second straight year, while Andrew Shaw had 15 points.

Scott Schaefer led Moore Catholic with 23 points while Frankie Schettino added 14 points and Mark Fiorello chipped in with 12; Schettino and Fiorello made three 3s each.

The Mavericks led by seven at  halftime and stretched it to nine points with 5:08 left in the quarter. But Thornton rallied, going on a 14-4 run to take a 45-44 lead.

The lead would be short-lived, as Moore Catholic came back down and answered to retake the lead. The Mavericks went up by eight against early in the fourth quarter, but the Trojans cut the lead back down and trailed by three after two free throws from Tarbox with 1:32 left.

Fiorello had a chance to put the game away with 19 seconds left, but missed the front end of a one-and-one. Thornton got the rebound and Ek hit his buzzer beater to send the game to overtime.