St. Mary’s bests St. Catherine’s behind Zacharia

The Island Now

St. Mary’s 4th grade team 4 defeated St. Catherine, Franklin Square Friday night. The team was led by Theo Zacharia, who scored 16 points. Connor Gately chipped in 14 and Blake Gately and Patrick Sweeney each scored six with major contributions from David Geismer, Connor Butler, PJ Flood and Colin Pasquale, particularly on defense.

St. Mary’s 5th grade team 7 was back in action this weekend after the Christmas break with an away game in Plainview versus St. Pius X.  St. Pius had a deep, talented roster and was in second place in the league with only one loss on the season. Despite a strong start by St. Pius, the boys from St. Mary’s responded with defensive intensity led by Alex Cozzi and Dillon Magee. On the offensive end, Michael Lasalle and Matt Perfetto moved the ball well, but the boys were a bit rusty and several open jump shots just would not fall early in the contest.  St. Mary’s was resilient and continued its strong defense and rebounding in the second quarter, led by Tommy Tsongas and Hunter Panzik. On the offensive end, St. Mary’s overcame its early shooting woes with strong ball movement led by Peter Vorillas and Brendan Trotta. As a result, St. Mary’s built up a seven-point lead by the end of the third quarter. Despite a late surge by St. Pius, St. Mary’s continued its strong man-to-man team defense and held on for a 19-16 victory.

St. Mary’s 5th grade team 1 won a thrilling road game against a very talented St. Hyacinth, Glen Head, 23-22.  St. Mary’s started strong and gained an early lead.  After later falling behind, St. Mary’s mounted a fierce comeback behind tough defense and then held the lead to secure the victory.  St. Mary’s offense was led by Michael Mastando (six points, including a clutch fourth quarter free throw that provided the margin of victory); Patrick Leder (four points, including a big fourth quarter basket);  Ryan Kolin (three points), Brendan Sargent (three points), Brendan Conniff (two points) and Charles Balsamo (one point), who all ran the offense flawlessly against a tough 2-3 zone; and Donovan Barcelona (two points, including an important late free throw), Will Cargiulo (two points) and Christian Alacqua (strong defense and rebounding).

The 7th Grade St. Mary’s team 2 hosted St. Boniface, Sea Cliff, winning 38-31.  Marco Falcone led the team with 10 points, followed by Jesse Bernstone and Luke Vetrone who had eight and six, respectively.  Each of Daniel Selby, Sean Tintle and Stefano Troia had four points.  Marco Pugliese played point, setting up a well executed offense.  James Malvey played a pressure defense forcing many turnovers.  Will DeCastro and Nikola Misetic pulled down much needed defensive rebounds. 

The 7th Grade St. Mary’s – 2 traveled to rival St. Peter’s in Port Washington Sunday, coming out on top in overtime,43-40, in a hard-fought win.  St. Mary’s was behind the entire game until the fourth quarter when the offense and defense finally came together.  Marco Falcone led the team with 14 points and joined James Malvey in forcing a number of turnovers.  Marc Baronci and Jesse Bernstone scored five and seven points, respectively, and grabbed a majority of the offensive and defensive rebounds.  The entire team played with emotion and heart and won this game by pulling together.  Stefano Troia, Luke Vetrone, and Sean Tintle led the effort in the fourth quarter and in overtime to shut down an aggressive offense by St. Peter’s.  Daniel Selby came in as an offensive substitute during overtime and scored two quick baskets on outside jump shots that put St. Mary’s in the lead for good.  Marco Pugliese added a jump shot for two points and much needed insurance.  In the final 10 seconds, Nikola Misetic blocked a shot and then pulled down a key defensive rebound.

St. Mary’s 7th grade team 1 took on one of the top teams in the division, Our Lady of Victory, and prevailed in a close game, 46-42.  The victory was sealed in the closing seconds by Steven Arella, who drained two crucial free throws to top of his team-leading 21 points for the game.  St. Mary’s used a box-and-one defense for most of the game with Brendan Lane playing man-to-man defense against OLV’s best player, limiting him to nine points for the game.  All players scored in the victory.  Hans Dewitte had six, John Crimmins, Jimmy Kelly and Brendan Lane had four each. Mat Kiley had three points and Jack La Salle, Will Simoldoni and Tim Barrett each contributed two.  Tim Barrett played a huge game on the backboards.

St. Mary’s 8th grade team 7 suffered a “lost weekend” starting with a tough Friday night loss to Christ the King, Commack, 44–36, despite 15 points from Timmy Kiggins, Joe Locurto (eight), Charlie Young (five) and Louis Perfetto (six) and a tough defensive effort by Vlahakis, Themelis, Weber, Salerno, Mulholland and Barcelona.  The Gaels faced St. Peter, Port Washington on Sunday and fell 70 – 62.  Timmy Kiggins (21), Joe Locurto (six), Charlie Young (13) and an outstanding comeback led by Steven Salerno.  Patrick Weber, Louis Perfetto, Joseph Mulholland, Duncan Barcelona and Steven Vlahakis played hard in the tough game.

St. Mary’s 8th grade team 3 had a tough double header test this weekend.  The first game was against a tenacious St. Anne squad.  St. Mary was fortunate to take command early with Julian Brown leading the way with 16 points.  In addition, Chris Alacarez, Matt Cozzi, Colin Holdrieth, Sean Holdrieth, Aiden Lotruglio, Kelly Quinn and Michael Runac added buckets.  Drew Miller and Andrew Pogue were defensive standouts.  

The next game was against unbeaten St. Dominic’s of Oyster Bay.  St. Mary’s had a complete team effort and held the opposition to only six first half points and came away with a solid 30-12 victory.  Scoring was rooted in very unselfish play and crisp passing all game. Leading a very balanced  offense was  JP Aliprantis, Matt Cozzi, Kelly Quinn, Jack Hannan , Chris Alcarez.  The defensive effort was truly inspiring, especially the play of Eric Tahechi, Aiden Lotruglio and Andrew Pogue. 

St. Mary’s 8th Grade Team 2 split their weekend games. On Saturday they played a strong game, fell 45-38 to Our Lady of Hope, Carle Place. With plenty of players in foul trouble the team fell behind in the fourth Quarter.  On Sunday the team was able to bring back its form and take a commanding victory over Corpus Christi, 55-45, at home. The team worked together well with all players contributing. They were led by Dino Chellaram (13 points, five assists),  Kyle Grant (eight points, five rebounds), (Steilo Katapolis (15 points, six assists),  Nico Miradoli (six points, three steals) and Leo Tsartsalis (three points, 11 rebounds, two blocks). The team put in an excellent defensive effort with Jared Gentile, Demetri McNulty, Luca Parisi, Michael Polis, Adam Stefan  and Bryce Thalheimer all putting in a huge effort.

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