FILE PHOTO
Jalen Echevarria scored 12 of St. Mary’s 34 points Sunday.
By GORDON VINCENT
MALDEN — When the St. Mary’s boys basketball team was invited to the IAABO Board 27 (Comcast) Tournament, the organizers were probably expecting a facsimile of last year’s Division 4 state champions. But that team is, to a degree, gone.
The Spartans lost big man Matt Cross for the season with a broken leg in the Division 3A Super Bowl back in December, and Calvin Johnson left the team after just one game. And St. Mary’s was without Jonny Mercado on Sunday, after he injured an ankle in a game against Bishop Fenwick on Friday.
The St. Mary’s team that turned up on Sunday was a scrappy, undersized bunch that made up for a lack of offense with tenacity and determination.
The Spartans (12-8) dropped a 41-34 decision to Malden Catholic, Sunday, at Malden Catholic’s Doherty Gym, in the first round of the IAABO Divison 2 Tournament. But St. Mary’s gained a measure of respect for its valor against a Div. 2 opponent from the rugged Catholic Conference that was bigger, taller and more experienced at almost every position.
“I’m very proud of the way the kids battled out there today,” Spartans coach David Brown. “That’s a very good team we played today. They could win a lot of games in the Division 2 tournament.”
As the score indicates, this was a grinder of a game, with no shot left uncontested, lots of physical play and more missed shots than a Sunday morning pickup game at the YMCA. Jalen Echevarria led all scorers with for with 12 points for St. Mary’s, while Jonathan Mola had seven.
Jonah St. Clair paced the Lancers (11-7) with 10 points, while Chris MacDonald added nine.
Malden Catholic opened the game with a 10-0 run, and St. Mary’s didn’t score until Mola converted a drive to the basket with 3:56 left in the first quarter. The Lancers opened a lead of as many as 13 points (15-2) when Cameron Kelly made a free throw with 1:46 left in the opening period, but Malden Catholic went the next 6:13 without a point, as the Spartans crept back into the game.
Echevarria led St. Mary’s on a 6-0 spurt that whittled the Spartans’ deficit to 20-15 at halftime.
The Spartans outscored the Lancers, 7-4, in deliberate third quarter. Stephen Fama, who was saddled by foul trouble for most of the first half, hit back-to-back running layups to cut Malden Catholic’s lead to 24-22, going into the final period,
St. Mary’s finally pulled even when Mike Cerulli tipped in an Echevarria miss with 5:44 left in the game, and the two teams traded four points each over the next two minutes. With 2:46 remaining, Jack O’Brien hit the biggest shot of the game for Malden Catholic, a 3-pointer from the left wing to give the Lancers the lead for good.
St. Clair made a couple of free throws and then MacDonald put the game away with a 3-pointer from the left wing with 10 seconds left.
“Because of foul trouble and injuries, we had two sophomores and a freshman on the floor for part of the game, and the kids never stopped battling,” Brown said. “We’re obviously disappointed with the result, but we’re not disappointed with the effort.”
The Spartans play Marlborough in the Division 2 consolation game today (11).