BLOOMINGTON - Most people shy away from driving in traffic. Aaron Garriott did it repeatedly Monday night, and steered Central Catholic High School to a share of its first Intercity Basketball Tournament championship since 1999. | Box scores, schedules and stats

The 6-foot-4 senior guard had 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists to lead the Saints to a 55-52 win over Normal West in the final game of the 37th annual tournament.

The victory at Shirk Center gave Central a 3-1 record and a share of the title with Bloomington, a 66-43 winner over Normal Community in Monday night's first game.

"I just tried to attack the basket and kick it out to teammates," said Garriott, who drove the lane frequently in the second half. "This is a great way to start the season. It's great to come in here and finally win this tournament."

Junior D'Mitri Riggs had 16 points to lead BHS past NCHS, extending the Purple Raiders' string of Intercity Tournament championships to six.

"It's always good to win Intercity," BHS coach Jamie Codron said. "We tied (for it) this year, but we'll get better as the year goes on. I like what I've seen through these four games. We've gotten progressively better."

West placed third at 2-2, while NCHS and University High each were 1-3.

Central-West

Central was outscored 8-0 to start each half. The Saints recovered in the first half with a 13-0 run and led 29-25 at halftime.

West surged to a 33-29 lead in the third quarter, but two driving baskets by Garriott late in the period gave the Saints a 40-38 lead. The game was tied at 49-all with 1:46 left when freshman Hayden Hoerdemann sank a 15-footer to give Central the lead for good at 51-49.

"He has a lot of poise for a freshman," Garriott said. "We know in practice Hayden knocks that shot down and in games Hayden knocks that down."

Senior forward Jeff Collier contributed 15 points and nine rebounds for the Saints, who were 8 of 9 from the free-throw line to West's 1 of 3. Hoerdemann added 11 points and six rebounds, while junior guard Tom Norton had 11 points and five assists for first-year coach Jason Welch.

"There are so many guys we can tip our hat to," Welch said. "Aaron (Garriott) showed tonight what a true leader he is. He just flat got after it offensively and defensively. I'm awful proud of these guys."

Junior forward Troy Walls had 13 points and seven rebounds for West. Shauntrell Manney added 10 points and eight rebounds, while Todd Albert, Matt Paska and Javon Bell scored eight points each.

"The difference was Aaron Garriott," West coach Brian Cupples said. "He made all kinds of plays getting in the lane. We just couldn't guard him. He has great presence and great floor vision.

"When we get the lead we have to be better with the ball and not turn it over in key situations. We needed to ride that wave we had at the beginning of the game and we couldn't do it."

BHS-NCHS

Bloomington led 39-32 at the half before breaking the game open with a 20-4 third quarter. The Raiders ended the period on an 18-0 run while running their Big 12 Conference record to 2-0.

Riggs was backed by eight points each from Tylon McAllister and Charlie Schmelzer. James Monroe led the Raiders in rebounds with 10, while the 6-7 Schmelzer had six.

BHS was 9 of 16 in the pivotal third quarter, scoring often on fastbreak baskets. NCHS (0-2 in the Big 12) was 1 of 11 from the field in the period.

"Coach wanted us to limit the turnovers and stop them from scoring," Riggs said. "We like to run. We're not the biggest team, so we have to run. It's nice to bounce back (after a first-round loss to Central), but we'd still like to have won it by ourselves."

Codron called it "one of our better defensive games," adding, "I think we've seen in the last three wins that we've worn some teams down a little bit late."

NCHS finished 4 of 20 from the field in the second half after making 11 of 20 first-half attempts. Junior forward Tate Musselman led the Ironmen with seven points.

"To start the third quarter we had three possessions where it looked like we might get a bucket and Bloomington did a nice job of stopping us," NCHS coach Dave Witzig said. "After those first few minutes they took us to the woodshed. You have to give them credit.

"My team … we've had three or four practices with our full team. I feel like we have some things we need to work on, but we also have some things that we're going to be good at this year. I look forward to getting our guys in practice."