St. Mary’s CYO Basketball News: February 15, 2012

Friday, 17 February 2012 00:00

St. Mary’s boys fifth-grade team (Doyle) closed out their regular season with two impressive wins last weekend. On Saturday, St. Mary’s once again proved that a good defense beats a good offense by knocking St. Frances out of first place with a 22-14 victory. St. Mary’s guards (Jack Hannan, Peter Doyle, CJ Miller, Thomas Broderick and Kevin Doyle) badgered the St. Frances guards mercilessly throughout the game, never letting their opponents get into an offensive set. Charlie Young and Edward Arnold led the scoring with 8 points each. Edward also had 10 rebounds, and Derek Mulholland pulled down 7 boards. On Sunday, the boys defeated St. Anne’s 28-6. This time the intense defensive pressure was led by St. Mary’s front-liners (Victor D’Angelo, Drew Miller and Mike Stratford) who held their opponents to 2 points in the first half. With 12 points, Charlie Young led a balanced offensive attack. Jack Hannan, Matthew Pegno, Derek Mulholland, Greg Menke and Owen Connor also scored for St. Mary’s. Greg Menke was the leading rebounder with 9 boards. Kevin Doyle (the master of the old-school, classical bounce pass) had numerous assists, including two that would have made ESPN’s Top 10 if ESPN covered CYO basketball.

The boys sixth-grade basketball team (Aiello/LaRocca) had an exciting finish to their season winning both weekend games including one in overtime. The offense was led by John Aiello, Jack Cargiulo, Adam Pidedjian and Nikko Falcone with a strong defensive effort by Jack Goldrick, Robert Lunetta, Dante LaRocca, Joseph Zand and Aidan Caggiano. The team’s aggressive man to man defense helped overcome a five point deficit with less than four minutes remaining in the game. St. Mary’s won the battle underneath the boards thanks to the effort of Frank Coiro and Christopher Yun.

St. Mary’s fifth grade boys basketball team 2 won its game on Saturday against a talented, previously undefeated team from St. Aloysius 47–31. The victory capped off an 11-1 season and first-place finish in the division for the squad from St. Mary’s. Throughout the year all of the boys played equally with enthusiasm and grit. Matthew Abrankian, Brian Arella, Duncan Barcelona, Christopher Carillo, Matthew Cozzi, Brian DiAndrea, Kyle Grant, Max Gaugliardo, John Mastando, Ryan Muni, Michael Runac, Jay Schlaefer, Steven Theodoropoulos and Leo Tsartsalis were aggressive on defense, rebounded with tenacity and shared the ball on offense with quick passes and cuts to the basket. The boys played hard together as a team throughout the season.

The St. Mary’s fifth grade team 7 completed an outstanding season with a 11-1 record and the second seed in the playoffs. The weekend started strong with a convincing 33–11 win over St. Kilian’s in Farmingdale.

Behind an offensive onslaught of Patrick Weber (8), Steven Vlahakis (8), Alex Racanelli (4) and Louis Perfetto (4) and a total team effort with every player scoring, the defense once again shut down an opponent. John Whelan (2), Timmy Kiggins (3), Steven Salerno (2), Joseph Mulholland (2), Jackson Cherry (1), Michael Farrell (1), Nick Quinn (2), and Patrick Reilly (1). On Sunday, the battle of the unbeatens proved to be just that, a battle. St. Aidan’s took a hard fought 48–44 victory to give the Gaels their only loss. Behind a great team effort emotionally, physically and mentally, Patrick Weber led with a season/career high 18 points. Timmy Kiggins (15), Patrick Reilly (6), Louis Perfetto (3) and Joseph Mulholland (2) rounded out the scoring. Passionate and hardnosed play by Jon Whelan, Steven Salerno, Jackson Cherry, Michael Farrell, Nick Quinn, Alex Racanelli and Steven Vlahakis.

The Farrell/Quinn eighth grade boys ended the season on a high note with an upset victory over a tough St. Dominic’s team, 36-30. It was truly a team effort; Stephen Farrell, Alex Alaqua, Tucker Quinn, Connor Barrett and Eamonn Scaring led the scoring while the stifling defense of James Ranieri, Like Ferraro and Peter Papadakos shut down the opposing offense.