WASHINGTON, D.C. - Catholic men's basketball went wire-to-wire, leading for more than 39 minutes in a well-rounded 87-65 victory over Susquehanna in the Landmark Conference Championship in front of a raucous crowd in the DuFour Center on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals brought home the third championship in program history and first since 2016 to clinch its spot in the Division III NCAA Tournament. 

Tommy Kelly scored 19 points, handed out eight assists, and nabbed four steals to lead Catholic, earning the senior Landmark Championship MVP honors. All five starters scored in double figures for Catholic with Jake Timby stepping into the starting lineup for the first time this season and responding with 16 points in another impressive performance. Brian Herbert (13 points, 7 rebounds), Jesse Hafemeister (12 points, 8 rebounds), and Enzo Sechi (11 points) also reached double digits.

Catholic brought the energy right from the jump, using a 12-0 run to lead it 12-2 less than three minutes into the game as Sechi and Kelly both hit early threes. A second-chance bucket from Hafemeister pushed the lead to 11 at 16-5 at the 14:45 mark of the opening half. Catholic pushed the first half lead to 15 for the first time with 6:34 to play as Jamie Ntiamoah scored off a Sean Neylon assist to make it 32-17. Kelly gave Catholic its largest lead of the half at 40-24 with 1:24 remaining before Jackson Van Wagener nailed a three to send it to halftime as a 13-point game. Ntiamoah provided high energy in the first half, scoring all eight of his points. 

Susquehanna trimmed the deficit back to single digits early in the first half before Catholic pushed the lead to 17 as Sechi and Timby knocked down back-to-back threes to make it 52-35 with 15:46 to play. The Cardinal lead reached 20 with 11:33 to play as Herbert scored an and-one off an assist from Kelly. The River Hawks pulled it back to 15, but two more Timby threes quickly pushed the lead back over 20 with 8:08 to play. 

Once again, the River Hawks pushed back, getting with 13 after a trio of Marcus Mitchell free throws, but the Cardinals had another run in them, scoring 11 of the next 13 points as Herbert canned a three-pointer with 1:35 to play to push Catholic ahead 83-61. The Cardinals closed out a 22-point championship victory, the second-largest margin of victory in Catholic's Landmark Tournament history. 

NOTES OF INTEREST

• Aaron Kelly's 75th career win at Catholic proved to be his biggest yet as his team earns the third title for the program in Landmark history. Catholic is now 8-10 all-time in the Landmark Conference Tournament and 3-2 in Landmark Championship games. 
• Catholic is now 2-1 all-time against Susquehanna in the Landmark Conference Tournament and 2-0 in Landmark Championship games against the River Hawks. Catholic also defeated Susquehanna in the 2016 championship. 
• Catholic makes its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2016 and 15th overall tournament appearance at the NCAA Division III level. This will be Catholic's 17th all-time appearance in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament with the 1944 and 1964 teams also making the field before the existence of Division III athletics. 
• Kelly moves up a few spots on the Catholic all-time scoring list, taking over 43rd place with 1,043 career points. 

Catholic will be in the NCAA Tournament field, but will find out its full fate on Monday at 1 p.m. during the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Selection Show.