PEABODY — The St. Mary’s boys basketball team came to play Friday afternoon, notching a 87-70 win over rival Bishop Fenwick in a New Year’s Day bout. The Spartans came out fast and played tenacious defense from the opening sequence, only allowing 27 points in the first half.
“We knew coming in that Fenwick had been playing some good basketball and they were averaging around 80 points (per game), but we know that they don’t want to play a fast-paced game,” said St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown. “So our idea was to come in and take as many quick shots as possible, and we’ve got some great shooters who were able to knock those shots down.”
Sophomore guard David Brown Jr. led the way for the Spartans offensively, putting up a career-high 32 points to go along with six rebounds.
“For as long as I can remember, he’s been the guy to always make the extra pass and the correct play,” Brown said of his son. “This year I told him that we’re going to need him to score at times and he’s really starting to buy into that. The best part about this group is that they’re all great friends and none of them cares who takes the open shot. It was great as a coach and as a dad to see David step up like that.”
Sophomore guard Ali Barry added 14 points and three rebounds, while senior guard Sammy Batista had 11 points and four rebounds. Junior forward Henri Miraka (10 points) and sophomore forward Nick Sasso (seven points, three rebounds) played well off the bench.
For Fenwick, junior Mike Yentin paced the offense with 19 points and six rebounds. Senior captain Max Grenert had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while junior captain Jason Romans had 13 points and five rebounds. Sophomore guard Che Hanks added 12 points and two rebounds, while senior captain Alex Gonzalez had two points and eight rebounds.
“St. Mary’s is a great team and they’ve got some really quick guards, and they were able to take us off of our game a bit,” said Fenwick coach Kevin Moran. “Our guys competed hard the whole way, but we knew this was going to be a tough game. The good part is that playing against competition like that is only going to make us better in the long run.”
The game was back and forth to start, with the Spartans holding a slim 13-7 lead in the opening minutes. St. Mary’s went on a bit of a run to end the first quarter and led 28-10.
From there, the Spartans continued to extend their lead behind the strong guard play of Brown Jr., Batista and Barry. By halftime, St. Mary’s was in full control with a 48-27 lead.
“We’ve got some really good guards on this team,” Brown said. “We’ve got four guys who have been in the program for a bunch of years and they know how we want to play, and they’ve all got the ability to shoot and to take it off the dribble.”
While St. Mary’s continued to extend its lead in the second half, Fenwick never stopped competing.
“The game started getting away from us a bit late in the third quarter, and we just told the guys that we needed to see them compete as hard as they could the rest of the way,” Moran said. “They came back well and the compete level remained high, and that’s all you can ask for in a game like that.”
But in the end, the depth and talent of the Spartans was just too much to handle. St. Mary’s stretched its lead to as many as 31 points early in the fourth quarter before coasting to a 17-point victory.
Fenwick (2-1) is back in action Wednesday (6:30) when it hosts Archbishop Williams.
St. Mary’s (2-0) hosts Bishop Feehan Monday (6) at Conigliaro Gymnasium.