St. Mary’s 8th grade team 7 ended their regular season with three wins this past weekend.
Behind Duncan Barcelona’s career high 20 point game, the Gaels defeated Notre Dame, New Hyde Park, 56-28. Louis Perfetto (10 points), Timmy Kiggins (nine points) spearheaded the offense with solid games by Patrick Weber, Joe Locurto, Steven Salerno, Joseph Mulholland, Chris Themelis, Charlie Young, Steven Vlahakis and Noah Semple.
Next up, the Gaels avenged an earlier season loss by besting Christ the King, Commack, 42-33. Timmy Kiggins (10), Noah Semple (eight points, eight rebounds), Charlie Young (eight points, seven rebounds) and Chris Themelis (seven points) led a balanced scoring attack. Solid offensive and defensive performances turned in by Patrick Weber, Louis Perfetto, Joe Locurto, Steven Salerno, Duncan Barcelona and Steven Vlahakis.
The Gaels continued their winning ways on Sunday. Steven Vlahakis scored 12 points to bring the Gaels to a 73-53 victory over Our Lady of Peace on Sunday. An impressive 23-point second quarter on the strength of a 10-2 run allowed the Gaels to pull ahead and eventually claim a 43-25 lead by halftime. Vlahakis was the front runner for the Gaels’s offense with 12 points, including seven during the first period. He also contributed six rebounds. Also contributing for the Gaels were Noah Semple (nine points, 12 rebounds, two blocks), Timmy Kiggins (nine points), Joe Locurto (nine points, seven rebounds, one steal), Charlie Young (eight points, two rebounds), a season high for Patrick Weber (eight points, three rebounds, one steal, one block), Steven Salerno (five points, one steal), Louis Perfetto (four points), Duncan Barcelona (three points, one rebound) and Joseph Mulholland (two points, one rebound, one steal). The defending champions now head to the playoffs with a 9-3 record.
St. Mary’s 5th grade team 7 had two games this past week to culminate a difficult stretch of the season in which it played four of the better teams in its division in successive weeks. St. Mary’s started the week with a game against St. Joseph, Garden City. The 5th grade boys continued their unselfish play and moved the ball well on offense against St. Joseph’s active zone defense. In addition, St. Mary’s continued the tenacious man-to-man defense they have displayed all year and in the end were able to beat St. Joseph’s, 42-15, to improve their season record to 10-0. St. Mary’s second game was against a talented squad from St. Pius, Plainview. Uncharacteristically, the boys from St. Mary’s started lethargically and were trailing 10-0 late in the first quarter. However, the boys displayed incredible heart and intensity led by Dillon Magee and Chris Diskin. Matt Perfetto, Michael LaSalle and Brendan Trotta moved the ball on offense and St. Mary’s started to reduce the deficit. Despite tenacious rebounding by Hunter Panzik and Tommy Tsongas leading to several fast breaks, St. Mary’s could not fully recover. In a thrilling finish, Joey Terenzi and Alex Cozzi had several steals and Dillon Magee and Chris Diskin aggressively attacked the basket throughout the 4th quarter. Despite a heroic comeback, in the end the boys from St. Mary’s were not able to overcome the early deficit and lost their first game of the season 27-25.
St. Mary’s 4th Grade team 6 played two games this past weekend defeating St. Catherine, Franklin Square, 38-17, and tying a tough squad from St. Peter,s 21-21. In the St. Catherine game, the boys executed the offense efficiently, scoring 38 points. The St. Peters game was a great defensive effort. The players on the team are Patrick Byrne, Matt Connolly, Matt DeFazio, Chris Infranco, Sonny Sanicola, Jack Regan, Alex Pidherny, and Jack LaMarca.
St. Mary’s 7th grade team 7 played their final game of the regular season yesterday. It was a must win game in order for the team to reach the playoff bracket. Every boy came out determined and played with heart to clinch the victory. St. Marys defeated St. Gertrude, Bayville in a hard-fought game, 51-43. The team players are Matt Larre, Peter Lapina, Matt McAree, Cole Zaffiro, Joe Busch, Jonathan Kim, Nick Morton, Marc Psyllos, Cole Gaccione, Luke Bakshandeh and Jack Doherty.
St. Mary’s 8th grade team 1 scored an impressive road victory over a very talented St. Aidan, Williston Park by a final score of 54-42. St. Mary’s offense controlled the pace of the game, and was led by John Mastando, who scored 18 points, Jay Schlaefer (12 points), and Thomas Santella (10 points). John Whelan added four points in the second quarter and Will Allen scored two points and played tough defense in the first half. St. Mary’s led 25-18 at the half, and maintained their lead with a swarming defense and an up-tempo offense that was able to break through the opponent’s full-court press. St. Aidan’s attempted to mount a comeback in the third quarter. John Mastando then scored 10 straight points to help St. Mary’s expand its lead. St. Mary’s defense further thwarted the comeback, employing a very effective press that caused numerous turnovers, led by Nick Quinn (who also added six key second-half points), Jack Saville, Ross Tortora (who added a big basket in the fourth quarter) and Thomas Blaney.
St. Mary’s 8th Grade Team 2 played a doubleheader this past weekend. By losing 51-43 to Corpus Christ, Mineloa on Saturday, they put themselves in a must-win situation for their Sunday game against St. Joseph, Garden City. Both teams were tied for the third playoff spot at 7-4. With the strong support of the home crowd, the boys play a flawless team game, led by Dino Chellaram (eight points, eight steals, six assists), Stelio Katopodis (nine points, three steals, three assists), Adam Stefan (six points, four rebounds) and Leo Tsartsalis (18 points, seven rebounds, three blocks). It was a well balanced team game with very strong defensive efforts by Kyle Grant (four rebounds, two assists), Nico Miradoli (two points, two steals) , Michael Polis (two points, two steals) and Luca Parisi (two rebounds, two steals). The highlight of the game was a perfectly executed behind the back assists by Jared Gentile (two points, seven rebounds, two assists).
St. Mary 8th grade team 3 got back on track with a solid 36-11 win against St. Aloysius, Great Neck. St . Mary’s raced out a 10-3 first quarter lead, and expanded it to 20-5 first half pounding. Chris Alcarez and Jack Hannan directed the offense in deliberate fashion and had many assists. Matt Cozzi was virtually unstoppable in the paint despite giving up a height advantage to the opposition, and paced the scoring with 12 points. Julian Brown complemented his front court partner with seven, Kelly Quinn and JP Alaprantis added six a piece, Sean Holdrieth nailed a three-pointer, and Drew Miller scored a bucket. Drew had his best defensive game of the year with three steals and five rebounds. It was a total team effort as the boys improved to 7-4.
