DANVERS — The St. Mary’s boys basketball team may not have had its offense clicking on all cylinders, but the Spartans made up for that on the defensive end in a 52-42 win over St. John’s Prep in a non-league bout at Pat Connaughton Court Sunday afternoon.
“Anytime you can hold a team like the Prep to 42 points, that’s a great defensive effort,” said St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown. “We didn’t shoot well at all out there, but if we come with that kind of a defensive effort then we’ll always be in the game.”
Derick Coulanges led the Spartans with 13 points and two rebounds, while Omri Merryman added 10 points and six rebounds. Henri Miraka had a solid game with nine points and seven rebounds, while Anthony D’Itria and Nick Sacco each scored four points.
But the player of the game had to go to David Brown Jr., who filled the stat sheet with 11 points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals. He also came up with a huge momentum-shifting, chase-down block in the final minutes of the game to keep the Spartans ahead.
“David’s been around the game for a long time, and he knows when to make the right play,” said Brown. “He’s not a guy who cares about stats, he’s all about making the right play and doing what it takes to win.”
For the Prep, Kyle Webster led the way with nine points and six rebounds. Jack Perry notched eight points and three rebounds, while Mike O’Brien just missed a double-double with seven points, nine rebounds and four blocks. Stephon Patrick (six points, four rebounds), Nathan Hendricks (five points, two rebounds), Jacob Mercedes (four points, three rebounds) and Daniel Trainor (three points) also played well in the loss.
“We knew coming into this year that scoring would be a struggle for us, and we had a tough day putting the ball in the basket again (Sunday),” said St. John’s Prep coach John Dullea. “Give credit to St. Mary’s, they’re a heck of a team and they made the plays necessary to win the game. But we’ve got to play better out there.”
The game was a defensive struggle from the very start, with neither team able to score a basket until three minutes had gone by in the first quarter. The two teams went back and forth for the rest of the quarter, and after a late flurry by the Eagles the Prep led 11-6.
St. Mary’s battled back to tie things at 11-11 early in the second quarter, and the lead changed hands five different times before the half was over. But still, after a couple of solid defensive plays to end the half, St. John’s Prep went into the break with an 18-17 lead.
The Spartans started to find their rhythm in the second half, but not before the Eagles took their largest lead of the game at five points. But St. Mary’s would not be deterred, and the Spartans pulled ahead before taking a seven-point lead (35-28) into the final frame.
St. Mary’s extended its lead to 10 points early in the fourth, but St. John’s Prep would not go away. The Eagles rallied to get all the way back to within three points with three minutes to play in the game, and it appeared that all the momentum was on the home team’s side.
But then came what both coaches said was the play of the game.
After Perry jumped a passing lane and stole a St. Mary’s pass, he broke free for a fast-break layup chance that would’ve made it a one-point game. But out of seemingly nowhere, Brown raced back from the offensive side of the court and leapt up to notch a LeBron James-esque chase-down block. He then picked up the rebound and fired it up the court, where Merryman was waiting to knock down a 3-pointer that gave St. Mary’s a six-point lead.
“It was a three-point game when he made that play, and that was just huge,” said Brown. “To put us up by six instead of only being up by one just made it a totally different game.”
“That five-point swing probably decided things,” said Dullea. “It was great to see us battle back to get to that point, but in the end St. Mary’s was just able to make a few more plays than we were.”
The Spartans were able to keep the Eagles at bay from there, hitting a few clutch shots down the stretch to seal the win on the road.
St. John’s Prep (1-2) is off until Saturday (5), when it plays on the road at Central Catholic.
St. Mary’s (7-1) plays on the road at Cathedral Tuesday evening (6:30).