St. Mary’s-7 5th grade CYO team looked to continue its undefeated season this weekend against a tough St. Anne’s, Garden City. Despite missing Peter Vorillas, a key member of the rotation due to injury, the boys from St. Mary’s came out ready play after several weeks of tough games. Aggressive man-to-man defense led by Tommy Tsongas and Michael LaSalle and crisp ball movement on offense by Joey Terenzi and Chris Diskin resulted in a seven-point first quarter lead. St. Anne’s responded with an intense effort in the second quarter, but strong rebounding by Hunter Panzik limited St. Anne’s attempts and helped St. Mary’s maintain a four-point halftime lead. St. Anne’s came out in the second half with an aggressive half court press and took a two-point lead late in the fourth quarter. However, Alex Cozzi and Dillon Magee tightened up on defense and secured several key rebounds and Matt Perfetto and Joey Terenzi continued to move the ball on offense resulting in a late basket by St. Mary’s to send the riveting game into overtime. Incredibly, both teams ratcheted up the intensity in overtime, but several nifty passes by Brendan Trotta resulted in key baskets that enabled St. Mary’s to escape with a thrilling 32-28 victory.”
St. Mary’s 6th grade team 3 defeated St. Peters, 37-29. Alex Giacobbe led all scorers with 11 points. Seamus Purcell and Jared Berger played great D. Max Schwenk, Mike Desena, Dan Cataldo, James Allen, Alec Turkmen, Mat Moschitta, Finn Lytle, and Marco Motroni, all scored, in a balanced attack.
St. Mary’s 7th grade team 2 bested St. Gertrude’s, Bayville . St. Gertrude’s put up a fight, for they were in the lead the entire game, but in the fourth quarter St. Mary’s pulled together and was able to score the winning basket with only a few seconds remaining on the clock. Marco Falcone led the team with 12 points and a strong defensive effort. Daniel Selby, Jesse Bernstone, and Luke Vetrone each scored four points. Sean Tintle put up the first two points of the game by sinking two free throws. Stefano Troia added two points and forced a lot of turnovers on defense. James Malvey and Nikola Misetic provided St. Mary’s with much needed stellar defense that pressured St. Gertrude throughout the game. Marco Pugliese came up with an abundance of steals on defense which started a lot of successful fast breaks for an ambitious St. Mary’s team. In the fourth quarter with three minutes left Daniel Selby, Jesse Bernstone, Stefano Troia, Marco Falcone, and Marc Baronci were subbed into the game. Jesse Bernstone hit the tying shot and then after a strategic time out St. Mary’s set up a final play that resulted in Marc Baronci hitting the game winning shot with only a few seconds left. It was truly a hard fought win.
St. Mary’s 8th grade team 7 travelled to Long Beach on frigid Saturday night and beat the previously undefeated Long Beach Catholic, 64–43, avenging a loss last week. Claiming a 29-21 lead at the half, the Gaels pulled ahead early in the game. With 22 points in the fourth quarter, the Gaels solidified their lead. Timmy Kiggins was the front runner for the Gaels’ offense with 11 points, including seven during the fourth period. He also contributed 10 assists and two rebounds. Louis Perfetto sank two three-pointers and scored eight points total. Also helping the effort for the Gaels were Charlie Young (nine points, two rebounds), Duncan Barcelona (eight points), Noah Semple (six points, 14 rebounds), Steven Salerno (five points), Steven Vlahakis (four points, six rebounds), Chris Themelis (four points, one rebound), Joe Locurto (four points, four rebounds), Joseph Mulholland (three points, one rebound) and Patrick Weber (two points, one rebound). This was the best team effort all season.
St. Mary’s 7th Grade CYO basketball players had the good fortune to be invited to play at halftime when Hofstra was playing James Madison University at the Mack Sports Complex on Saturday, Jan. 24 St. Mary’s was divided into two teams: blue and gray. The blue team contained Daniel Selby, John Aspinall, Brendan Lane, Marco Falcone and John Crimmins. The gray team consisted of Marc Baronci, Marco Pugliese, Stefano Troia, James Malvey and Sean Tintle. Overall, the boys had a lot of fun and were happy to participate in such a great opportunity.
