Spartans can’t contain explosive Fenwick offense

LYNN – The last time the Bishop Fenwick basketball team set foot in the Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium it watched as St. Mary’s erased a 20-point deficit in the second half to pull off a miraculous win.On Friday night in front of a capacity crowd, the Crusaders had no such meltdown.Led by Mike Clifford, Phil Eagan and Nolan DiPanfilo, who combined to score 75 points, Fenwick solidified its place atop the Catholic Central League and Division 3 North standings with an 82-70 victory.”St. Mary’s and Fenwick is a great rivalry and this is always a tough place to play,” Fenwick coach Mike Kane said.Clifford was immense as always, finishing the night with 31 points, 21 rebounds and six blocks, but it was Eagan and DiPanfilo who helped the Crusader cause in a huge way.Eagan scored 14 of his 24 points in the first half while DiPanfilo finished with 20 in the game.”It seemed like every time we needed a big basket, Phil would hit a shot,” Kane said.Fenwick (13-1) also did an outstanding job defensively on Spartan senior Tyler Grillo, who was shadowed by Brett DiPanfilo all night. Grillo put up 12 points in the first half, but could manage only a single 3-pointer in the second half.”Brett really did a great job of denying Grillo the ball,” Kane said. “We went to a triangle-and-two in the second half and that really was effective.”St. Mary’s coach Kevin Moran also was keenly aware of what Fenwick’s terrific trio did to his team.”When you see a team have kids finish with 31, 24 and 20, that’s hard to beat,” Moran said. “There aren’t a lot of teams that can do that.”The Spartans (6-9) got off to a 9-6 lead in the early going before Clifford and Nolan DiPanfilo helped key a 14-2 run that gave Fenwick a 20-11 lead late in the first quarter. But Grillo scored two baskets in the final moments to trim the gap to 20-17 after one.St. Mary’s continued to chip away and when Grillo banked home a shot with 5:30 left in the half, the Spartans took a 25-24 lead.It would be the last lead St. Mary’s possessed as Eagan caught fire, scoring 10 of the next 13 Fenwick points to give the Crusaders a 38-34 lead at the half.”Eagan just stood in there and kept making jumpers,” Moran said. “They really have all the pieces.”The Crusaders kept right on running at the start of the second half as Clifford hit back-to-back baskets before a rare four-point play by Eagan gave Fenwick a 46-36 lead.From there on, the Spartans could get no closer than eight.Clifford rocked the building with a rim-rattling dunk to up the lead to 12 before Eagan tipped home a shot at the third quarter buzzer to make it 63-49.The Spartans didn’t quit, cutting the lead to 63-55 early in the fourth quarter, but Fenwick simply had too many weapons on this night.Four Clifford free throws helped restore order and when the Crusaders star hit a layup with 2:15 left, Fenwick led comfortably at 75-61.”We didn’t quit at all,” Moran said. “I was so proud of the effort by the boys.”