Mohegan — Coaches will tell you. So will players. Any state championship earned amid the rattle and hum of Mohegan Sun Arena carries everlasting memories.

But there are state titles … and then there is Division I, known in the old days as Class LL. The largest, hardest and most competitive division.

This is where St. Bernard found itself Sunday night, the state Division I championship game against undefeated Notre Dame of West Haven. The Saints, with program history to be respected, could become the first school in the history of the Eastern Connecticut Conference to win a Division I/LL title.

And then they discovered all over again just how difficult this can be.

Despite holding presumptive state Player of the Year Abdou Toure for a season-low 12 points, the Saints’ shooting disorder, which plagued them throughout the tournament, was too much to overcome. Notre Dame finished 28-0 with a 52-46 win at Mohegan Sun Arena.

“We just couldn’t make any shots,” St. Bernard coach Mark Jones said, alluding to his team’s 15-for-61 mark from the field. “They’re a good team. The last two or three games, we haven’t shot the ball well.”

The Saints did not play well offensively in the tournament, struggling to score against Crosby, Kolbe Cathedral and Ridgefield as well.

St. Bernard (23-4) took a 32-31 lead late in the third period on Colin O’Leary’s three-pointer, but was unable to sustain any consistent offense. Notre Dame’s Tim Swanson made a killer 3-pointer with 3:21 left before Toure and Most Outstanding Player Travis Upchurch finished the game from the line.

“That’s a great St. Bernard team,” Notre Dame coach (and Connecticut College graduate) Jason Shea said. “They did a great job on Abdou. Very physical. (Tyler) Mangual and O’Leary did a nice job on him. He’s averaged more than 30 a game in the tournament.”

Jones said, “We did a great job on him. But we just couldn’t get anything going. That’s how the tournament is sometimes.”

Toure, serenaded by the St. Bernard student section with chants of “overrated,” tweaked his groin by slipping on the floor early in the game. That and an ankle injury earlier in this week to Landon Krygier left Shea more than a bit anxious at times.

“I’d rather (Toure) get 35,” Shea said. “But we had some answers for what they were doing.”

Amyre Gray led the Saints with 14 and O’Leary had 11.

The Saints missed their first six shots of the game and shot 6-for-33 in the first half. Toure was held to two points on 1-for-6 shooting in the half.

St. Bernard finished with its second straight trip to the finals and championships in the ECC in the regular season and Division I tournament.

“The kids played their butts off,” Jones said. “They gave it their all. This team shouldn’t be defined by one game. They had a really great season. We just couldn’t finish it off. We tried to.”

The two-day weekend event drew 16,022 fans to Mohegan Sun.

m.dimauro@theday.com