Mohegan — It was early in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s Eastern Connecticut Conference Division I tournament boys’ basketball final and top-seeded St. Bernard didn’t look the part.

Or like itself.

The top-seeded Saints were getting outplayed and outhustled by No. 2 New London when St. Bernard head coach Mark Jones called timeout with over six minutes left in the half.

The Saints came out of the timeout and began playing like their old selves. They blitzed the Whalers with 21 unanswered points and went on to win, 62-55, before 3,003 at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“They weren’t going to just back down,” St. Bernard senior Ryan Outlow said about New London. “We beat them twice (during the regular season) but they’re a really good team.

“We came out a little slow. It was just (have) fight, have passion, and we went on a big run.”

It was the first ECC Division I tournament championship for St. Bernard (20-3). It won four straight ECC Division II titles from 2017-20 and opted to move up to Division I last season.

Asked about the decision, Jones laughed before saying, “Talent. Simple as that. I mean those kids deserve it. They’re good players and everything, so why not?”

The Saints are the top seed in the CIAC’s Division II tournament and ranked ninth in the GameTimeCT.com media poll.

Outlow (17 points) was named the ECC Division I tournament’s most outstanding player, much to his pleasant surprise.

“I wasn’t on the All-ECC (regular season) team,” Outlow said. “I wasn’t honorable mention but it’s all about sacrifice. We have a very good group. All five of us could’ve gotten this award.”

St. Bernard senior Cedrick Similien (13 points) and sophomore Amare Marshall (nine points) joined Outlow on the all-tournament team. Senior Tyson Wheeler added 11 points.

Sophomore Devan Williams (22 points) and freshman Xavier Goode (14 points) earned all-tournament honors for New London (18-5).

St. Bernard trailed 19-11 when Jones called timeout with 6 minutes, 2 seconds left in the first half.

“We just had to play better,” Jones said. “We weren’t playing well defensively. We weren’t playing hard.”

Sophomore Amyre Gray knocked down a 3-pointer seconds after the timeout, Similien made the first of two free throws and Wheeler made a three to cut the Whalers lead to 19-18 with 4:46 remaining in the quarter.

Ryan Outlow’s putback put the Saints ahead for good with 3:43 left in the half. ... and they were just warming up. Gray made the first of two free throws and Marshall made back-to-back layups, the second of which was a sweet reverse layup off an alley-oop pass from Gray.

Similien turned an offensive rebound into a three-point play and followed with a layup. Marshall closed the half with yet another St. Bernard layup to give it a 32-19 edge.

“Sometimes that happens in a game where you don’t come out right away and play well but you stick to it,” Jones said. “And they did that today.”

Wheeler banked in a three to open the third quarter.

New London responded by throwing a full-court press at the Saints to get back into the game. It scored six quick points off layups, two by Williams, to cut its deficit to 35-25 with 5:46 left in the third.

The Whalers closed to 38-32 on Williams’ three, a putback by freshman Julius Washington and Williams’ jumper with 3:08 remaining in the quarter.

Similien broke up the Whalers’ run with a three. Over a minute later, Gray chased an offensive rebound out-of-bounds and threw it in to Outlow under the net for an easy layup.

Gray finished the quarter with a layup as St. Bernard pushed its lead to 45-32.

n.griffen@theday.com