LYNN — The No. 4 St. Mary’s boys basketball team shook off a bit of a slow start Sunday afternoon and never looked back, taking down rival No. 5 Bishop Fenwick by a score of 73-64 in a CCL Cup quarterfinal game at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium.
“It’s definitely great to get Fenwick back after they beat us a couple weeks ago, and it was a hard-fought game the whole way,” said St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown. “We got some great performances up and down the lineup, which was great to see.”
David Brown Jr. led the scoring attack for St. Mary’s with 30 points and five rebounds, while Ali Barry filled the stat sheet with 16 points, three rebounds and four blocks. Omri Merryman added 10 points and three rebounds off the bench, while Sammy Batista (six points) and Nick Sacco (five points, seven rebounds) also played well in the win.
“Omri came up with 10 big points in the fourth quarter for us and our guys have really been clicking nicely since we inserted Nick Sacco into the starting lineup,” Brown said.
For Fenwick, Alex Gonzalez led the way with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Max Grenert was right behind with 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Che Hanks also scored 14 points. Jason Romans (nine points, two rebounds), Christian Loescher (five points, eight rebounds) and Mike Yentin (four points, four rebounds) also played well in the loss.
St. Mary’s got off to a pretty slow start, falling behind six points after Fenwick got off to an 8-2 start. However, behind a 14-point first quarter from Brown Jr., the Spartans were able to go on a 20-3 run to close the quarter and take a 22-11 lead into the end of the first quarter.
“Fenwick came out strong and knocked down some shots, but eventually we were able to get some of their guys in foul trouble and then take advantage,” said Brown. “David’s big first quarter really got us on a roll and freed everyone else up to make plays as well.”
“I think St. Mary’s was really able to come out after that start and push the pace and get a lot of baskets in transition,” said Fenwick coach Kevin Moran. “They were able to make a couple of quick shots, get us on our heels and ride the momentum for the whole game.”
From there, St. Mary’s was able to keep a pretty firm hold on its lead. Fenwick went on a run toward the end of the first half to cut the deficit to seven points, but the Spartans were still able to take a 31-23 lead into the halftime break.
St. Mary’s was able to stretch its lead to as many as 12 points in the third quarter, but Fenwick kept battling back. After the Spartans took a 48-38 lead into the fourth, Fenwick went on a sustained run that brought the Crusaders to within five points with four minutes to play. But the Spartans stood firm in the face of that run, hitting a few big shots down the stretch to walk away with the win.
Fenwick finishes the season at 9-8. The Crusaders now say goodbye to a group of eight seniors, including key contributors Gonzalez, Grenert and Loescher.
“Those guys mean a lot to me because they’ve been here for four years and they’ve been a huge part of our success,” said Moran. “Obviously it was a tough and strange year and I think we’re all a little disappointed it wasn’t a normal year, but at the same time we’re all happy that we were able to get out and play and have this experience together.”
St. Mary’s (12-5) takes on the winner of No. 1 Archbishop Williams and No. 9 Bishop Stang in the CCL Cup semifinal Wednesday (TBD).
“We’re just excited to have the opportunity to play for something this year, and we’re so grateful to the CCL athletic directors for putting this tournament together,” said Brown. “We know that no matter who we face on Wednesday it’ll be a tough game, so we’ve just got to keep playing good basketball, keep our confidence up and battle through any adversity we come across.”