When Newman won the NEPSAC Class AAA boys championship on Sunday, the celebration was a bit subdued. The Cardinals were certainly excited to win their second consecutive New England crown, but they had bigger plans. Their sights were firmly set on the national prep championship.
“It was an appreciation of a milestone, but I could feel it, that this isn’t the end,” coach Jackson Johnson said on Sunday. “They have another championship they want to get.”
On Thursday, they completed the mission.
Newman won the national prep championship for the first time in program history with a 92-72 victory over Blair Academy (N.J.) at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, Conn. Penn commit Chase Geremia (Madison, Conn.) was named the championship game MVP after scoring 21 points on seven 3-pointers, including five triples in the second half to help Newman put the game away.
Lucas Morillo produced another all-around performance with 17 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists while Quinn Costello (Medford, Mass.) had a game-high 24 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. The McDonald’s All-American made six 3-pointers in the first half to push Newman to a 53-38 lead, and they never looked back.
Duke commit Deron Rippey Jr. paced Blair with 12 points and six assists.
After winning the NEPSAC title on Sunday, the Cardinals regrouped to win four games in three days to claim the national prep championship. They took care of Darrow, 81-65, in their opening game on Tuesday before they had to overcome some adversity. They trailed by 13 at halftime in their Elite Eight game against the Academy of Central Florida before rallying in the second half for an 81-74 victory.
Newman then took down Putnam Science – the reigning and five-time prep national champion – in an 81-75 thriller, simultaneously avenging its loss to the Mustangs earlier this season in NEBL play. That set up a rematch with Blair, which handed Newman its first loss of the season on Dec. 13 at the Scholar Roundball Classic. But that was Morillo’s first game of the season after missing the opening month due to an injury. The Cardinals were at full strength Thursday night.
Morillo was the difference-maker for Newman all week. The Illinois commit averaged 21.5 points, 10.3 rebounds and 6.5 assists in the four games of the national prep championship tournament, including a 28-point, 15-rebound, nine-assist effort in the comeback win over Central Florida.
Thursday’s national championship was the continuation of an incredible rise at Newman. The Cardinals were a NEPSAC Class D program when Johnson and John Carroll – the former coach at Northfield Mount Hermon who became an advisor at Newman – took over the program in 2022. In four seasons, they built the Boston prep school into a regional powerhouse, and now, a national champion.
Newman finished its 2025-26 season with a 38-3 record, including 19 consecutive wins to end the season. The Cardinals won three championships – the NEBL, NEPSAC Class AAA and the national prep championship.
