LYNN — Team basketball was the theme for the St. Mary’s boys Saturday afternoon, as the No. 1 Spartans took down No. 9 Arlington Catholic 78-49 in the Division 3 North quarterfinal in front of a standing-room-only capacity crowd at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium.
“We’ve been working really hard in these last 10 days during our time off because we’ve had a long layoff,” said Brown. “We’ve been doing some serious conditioning preparation in terms of getting up and down the floor, and I think that worked to our advantage (Saturday). We wanted to push the ball on makes or misses to wear them down, and we just shot the ball unbelievably.”
It’s not the first time these Catholic Central League foes have met over the past few years, and Dave Brown knew that the Cougars wouldn’t go away easily.
“They’ve played us tough the past eight or nine times we’ve gone against each other,” Brown said of Arlington Catholic. “We stole one at the beginning of the year at home then went there and beat them by six later in the year, so we knew they’d come to play.”
As has been the case for much of the year, the Spartans spread the scoring around on offense. Joe Abate-Walsh led the way with 19 points, six rebounds and four blocks, while Lee Pacheco put up a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Ali Barry had 10 points and four rebounds, Josh Perez had eight points and five rebounds, David Brown had eight points and one rebound, Sammy Batista had six points and one rebound and Henri Miraka had five points and seven rebounds.
“At some point in the year, every one of our top seven guys has led us in scoring,” said Brown. “We know they’re all capable of scoring, and as long as we’re able to share the ball and get good looks we’re a dangerous basketball team.”
The game was all St. Mary’s from the start. The Spartans came out on fire and jumped ahead to an 8-0 lead in the opening minutes, but the real story of the first quarter was the Spartans’ defense. St. Mary’s was able to keep Arlington Catholic from scoring until the 3:37 mark of the first quarter, going ahead by as many as 13 points. After a small run by Arlington Catholic to close the quarter, St. Mary’s held a 20-10 lead.
The second quarter is where the Spartans were really able to separate. Behind strong play from Abate-Walsh, Pacheco and David Brown, St. Mary’s was able to extend its lead to as many as 21 points midway through the half. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the Spartans were ahead 45-28.
That momentum rolled right into the second half, as St. Mary’s outscored the Cougars 22-8 in the third quarter to blow the game open at 57-36. The Spartans eventually extended their lead to as many as 26 points in the fourth quarter before coasting to victory in the final minutes.
The Spartans move on to the Division 3 North semifinal, where they will face off against No. 5 Hamilton-Wenham Wednesday night (7) at Burlington High School.
“We know we had a tough loss in last year’s semifinal, so we’re very focused,” said Brown. “We’re going to get right back in the gym, work our butts off and be ready to go.”
