Bishop McNamara boys basketball coach Adrian Provost woke up Friday morning knowing that once his phone started to go off, it wasn’t going to stop until he put it away to coach the Fightin’ Irish’s regular season finale against Newark that night.

When that first call came from former Fightin’ Irish football coach Rich Zinanni, Provost realized the day was going to be more emotional than he’d thought.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Provost said. “I just thought of a line, so every time someone called or texted me I said, ‘Life’s happening for a lot of people today. Let’s just play basketball and move on.’ Obviously I’m incredibly blessed, me and my family. It’s crazy.”

In the final home game of 14 years coaching at his alma mater, Provost and his Fightin’ Irish trailed after the first, second and third quarters, but a gritty senior group rose to the occasion in what was also their last home game, using a late 10-0 run to end the regular season with a 68-60 victory.

“I think it’s just the fight in us; the Fightin’ Irish you could say,” senior big man Callaghan O’Connor, who matched teammate Richard Darr for a team-high 18 points, said. “I know that’s kind of corny, but we trust each other to make the next play and we pride ourselves on our defense, and that was a key part of that. When you say 10-0, that means they didn’t score.

“ … Regardless of what the first, second and third quarters looked like, we were able to shut it down in the fourth. That’s all that mattered.”

After their senior night Wednesday, the McNamara seniors gave way to a grand night for Provost Friday, one that included a pregame speech from principal Kaelyn Bess, a McNamara student section full of fans sporting bald caps to resemble Provost, a postgame party and much more.

Following the hoopla, the Fightin’ Irish (25-5) found themselves trailing 10-8 after a 3-for-18 opening frame from the field. The offensive production improved in the second, where they tallied 23 points, but the Norsemen, who got an 11-point, eight-rebound first half from senior post Cody Kulbartz, had a 25-point frame to take a 35-31 lead to the locker room.

“To be honest, it was kind of crazy,” Irish senior wing Karter Krutsinger, who had 13 points, said. “Fans, everybody popped out for coach Provost and it was awesome. It was an emotional roller coaster and kind of caught our team by surprise in the first half, but we got it together.”

While they did get it together, Newark (15-16) never broke stride, creating a back-and-forth game that saw a dozen lead changes, four of those in what started as a neck-and-neck final quarter.

But when O’Connor’s layup with 3:08 to go put the Irish ahead 60-58, they held strong. Coen Demack’s second-chance bucket a minute later made it a 62-58 game, the first lead the Irish held by more than a possession, with their 10-0 run ending when Kulbartz’s first bucket of the second half was the game’s last score in the final seconds.

Demack notched a double-double with 12 points, 10 boards – eight of them offensive – and a game-best five steals. As one of four Irish starters that stands at 6-foot-4 or taller, Demack said the coaching staff emphasizes using that size to their advantage.

“It was obviously huge,” Demack said of the Irish’s 18 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points. “We scored a lot off of them and that’s a credit to our coaches. Coach Adrian, coach Krieg and coach Renchen always preach to us in practice about rebounds. We’ve got a lot of big guys, so go get those rebounds.”

Reggie Chapman had 12 of his game-high 19 points to lead the Norsemen, who begin postseason play when they host LaMoille on Monday in a Class 1A Woodland Regional quarterfinal. Kulbartz finished with 14 points and 16 rebounds.

The Fightin’ Irish will face either Reed-Custer or Herscher in Wednesday’s Class 2A Regional semifinals. After reaching the sectional championship round last season, Darr said this year’s group of seven seniors is ready for even more this year.

“We’ve been preparing for it ever since we stepped on the court as seniors, knowing we could have had it all last year and how close we were,” Darr said. “We want to go right back to where we were and beyond that.”