St. Mary’s boys hoop team hopes to ride last year’s momentum

The St. Mary’s High boys basketball team started picking up steam last season and the result was a trip to the Division 4 North semifinals.The Spartans’ 13-11 final record was the best since Kevin Moran took over the program and Moran, who is in his fourth year at the helm, is hoping to sustain that momentum despite losing a couple of key players to graduation.Allen Ray, who is now starting for Suffolk University; Brendan Hanlon and Ryan Harrison have all graduated, but Moran has two aces in the hole. Junior point guard Tyler Grillo, who lead the team in scoring with 19 points per game, is back as is Steven Harper, who Moran is looking at to do some damage on the boards. Grillo and Harper are both captains, along with Chris Kefalas and Chris Muldoon.Moran said Grillo’s scoring numbers, which were good enough for third in the Catholic Central League, are even more impressive given the fact he also runs the show from the point guard position.”We expect him to be our leader on the floor and now (that he’s a captain), he’ll have to assume some leadership in the locker room,” Moran said.”Harper’s a real good athlete and he’s developing as a basketball player. Hopefully he’ll step in and be an active force for us,” Moran said.Kefalas came off the bench last year and “did a little bit of everything,” Moran said. “He’s going to play hard defense. His father (former St. Mary’s coach Jim Kefalas) was a coach. He’s well versed in the game and does what’s needed.”Moran said Muldon is a terrific shooter who will likely be a two guard.”He can step in a shoot really well,” Moran said.The Spartan attack will also include junior John Bakopoulus, who like Grillo and Muldoon, is from Saugus.”He’s an exceptional shooter,” Moran said, adding he played in the two or three spot last year.Alex Mitchell of Peabody should also help out the paint while Mike Pugelli, another one of the Saugus contingent, will provide backup for Grillo. He’s a junior. Another returnee is Tade Ogunbona, who Moran called his “most athletic” guy.”He jumps and runs well and really gets after it. I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do for us,” Moran said.Among the other guys to be reckoned with are Anthony Campagnone, who transferred from Savio Prep last year and Nick Conti, a senior who didn’t play last year, but opted to come out this year. Conti was a key player on the baseball team.”We’re carrying 14 guys. We’re going to try to go uptempo. This is the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had the luxury of this number of talented kids,” Moran said, adding that he had nearly 60 players come out for the three teams.”We’ve gotten a little better every year,” Moran ssid. “I believe we have a talented group of guys. If we get them to work together, the wins and losses take care of themselves.:”