LAFAYETTE – Greg Monroe finally got his championship.

A year after getting bounced in the second round and two years after losing in the quarterfinals, Monroe and the Cox Cougars are bringing home a Class 4A state championship to Harvey, defeating fellow Westbank school O. Perry Walker 75-51.

And now Monroe can add Top 28 MVP to every other individual award he has earned the past three years, including a McDonald’s All-American and a national high school player of the year honor.

This one might be the sweetest of all, though he won’t admit it.

“That championship is the sweetest thing,” said Monroe, who finished the finals with 27 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. “Not individual awards.”

Cox, in its third year as a member of the LHSAA, won its first state championship in basketball.

“It’s finally over,” Cox head coach Tyron Mouzon said. “Three years of having high expectations for us to get here and win it, finally we made it. Whole lot off my shoulders.”

For the team, the ending was sweet. They gathered in front of the home bench, took off a black shoulder band from their jerseys and started waving them in the air. It was a tribute to fallen teammate Dominique Fairman, a JV player who died in December. His older brother Justin starts for the varsity.

“I know he was up there dancing like we were dancing on the court,” senior guard Calvin Thompson said. “I know we’re happy we could do it for him.”

It was in the third quarter that Monroe and the Cougars took over the game.

Cox led only 27-25 at the break, but powered by Monroe, the Cougars took over. Monroe sank two free throws to get things rolling after the Chargers’ Charles Hammork tied the game on a dunk.

After Hammork’s dunk, O. Perry Walker couldn’t catch a break at the basket. Nothing went in. It didn’t help that Hammork, the team’s soul in the paint, sat most of the third quarter with four fouls.

“We bogged down because we run so much through him,” Chargers head coach Brian Gibson said. “He demands a lot of attention. When he’s not in the game, Greg might sit in the middle, they might double off somebody else. When he’s not, it’s a little bit of a struggle.”

And while O.P. Walker was struggling, Cox was extending its lead.

Thompson, who finished with 21 points, pushed Cox’s advantage to 31-27 on a jumper, then Monroe hit a layup, and the route slowly was on its way.

An 8-2 run to begin the quarter gave Cox a 35-27 lead. The Chargers got it back to five when Colby Carr hit a jumper as the third was nearing its end, but they would get no closer.

Monroe finished with 14 point in the quarter.

“Big-time players make plays down the stretch,” Monroe said. “I just tried to get a cushion, just tried to win.”

Said Thompson, “He’s the most dominant player in Louisiana. Nobody can check him.”

But as good a third quarter as Monroe had, losing Hammork and Carr to fouls doomed the Chargers.

“We couldn’t ever really really get into the second half,” Gibson said. “Foul trouble basically killed us. Charles had four fouls early in the third quarter. Colby had four early in the third quarter. We weren’t able to overcome it.”

For Walker, Demond Dedeaux and Hammork finished with 14 points each.

Cox went 36-7, but 27-0 in Louisiana. Thompson said that means one thing.

“That means we’re the best team here,” Thompson said. “That’s all I can say about that. We proved it.”