The Bellarmine College Prep coach has the skinny on 6-foot-3 senior Nick Kovacevich, the leader of the newly-crowned Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball champions.

"He works so hard," says Schneider. "He stays late [after practice] to work on shooting."

Kovacevich was the biggest reason Bellarmine defeated Milpitas in a CCS semifinal March 3 at Santa Clara High. He scored 11 of his game-high 18 points during a pivotal stretch in the second half, boosting his team into the finals.

Three days later the Bells captured the championship. Sparked by their forever frenetic defense and double-figure scoring from three of its nine seniors, Bellarmine whipped Piedmont Hills 67-46.

The Bells joined nine other teams in the California State Tournament's Northern California bracket this week.

If not for Kovacevich's inspired play on both ends of the court against Milpitas, the Bells may not have reached the CCS finale, let alone the NorCal tourney.

The Bells stretched a seven-point halftime lead to 33-23 when a Jonathan Robinson steal turned into a driving, five-foot Kovacevich shot with 4:05 left in the third quarter. But the Bells suffered through a four-minute scoreless spell, and Milpitas cut its deficit in half and had the ball with 25 seconds to play.

With the last 25 seconds of the quarter ticking down, a Trojan player drove inside the key toward a basket that would have trimmed Bellarmine's advantage to three. Kovacevich picked a Milpitas player clean, dribbled the length of the court and knifed between two defenders for a buzzer-beating lay-in.

"That was big," Schneider said, "a real momentum-changer."

Instead of the margin being cut to three points, Kovacevich's effort put the Bells ahead 35-28 heading into the fourth quarter. Then the player teammates call "K-voch" took over.

He put back an offensive rebound and converted a foul shot to put Bellarmine up 38-30 with about 6:30 left in the game. Another follow shot three minutes later put the Bells back up by 10.

Then, with just a little more than three minutes to go, the Bells put the game out of reach with the most exciting play of the game.

Phil Albanese deflected a pass near the right sideline in the Bells' backcourt. As he was falling out of bounds, Albanese saved the ball and flipped it toward the middle of the court. Kovacevich swooped in, grabbed the ball and raced upcourt. "K-voch" passed ahead to Robinson, who flushed a two-handed jam and increased the lead to 44-32.

The fans roared and Milpitas was floored. The Trojans called a timeout and, with 3:04 remaining, hoped to regroup for one last run.

As Milpitas scrambled and pressed to stay in the game, Kovacevich answered the Trojans with a driving lay-in at 2:25 and two free throws at 1:24. After the Bells were awarded possession on a held ball, they broke Milpitas' fullcourt press and Kovacevich led a 3-on-1 break before dishing off for a Jamon Osby basket and a 12-point lead with just 1:11 to play.

Robinson finished with 11 points and Osby had nine to help Kovacevich carry the scoring load. Dallas Imbimbo, 6-foot-8 Blake Dickey and Albanese all added four points. Guard Jonathan Singletary, the Bells' only junior starter, had three.

Although he didn't score, sophomore Jonathan Beene was praised by Schneider for "picking up the tempo in the third quarter."

Kovacevich, who has received interest from Division III schools, says he "probably will play at a junior college" next season because he really wants to "play Division I" in college. His all-around game (six rebounds, five steals, four assists, one blocked shot) would have made any coach appreciative this night.

Robinson, "a great defensive player," according to both Schneider and Kovacevich, had four steals and two blocks to go along with some fine work holding down J.D. Adams, Milpitas' high-scoring forward. Kovacevich and Dickey also took turns on Adams, who led the Trojans with 12 points.

But it was a solid team effort that forcing the well-coached Trojans into 17 turnovers.

"We knew we had to shut them down," Kovacevich said. "We have a lot of players that come in and keep playing hard."

Imbimbo was the scoring leader against Piedmont Hills with 15 points, including three three-pointers. Osby had 14 and Robinson 12. Beene tallied seven, Kovacevich scored six, Albanese hit five and Singletary four. Jonathan Yee and Matt Dorsa both chipped in with two.