St. Mary’s boys hang on to defeat Fenwick

LYNN ? There’s an adage in basketball about comebacks. A team spends so much energy making up a deficit, it has nothing left when it gets the score back to even.So it went for the Bishop Fenwick boys basketball team, which dug itself out of a 15-point hole with 10 minutes to play but lost, 65-62, to St. Mary’s, Friday night, at the Coniglairo Gym.The Spartans (5-4) got 20 points from Ronsanto Campbell and 16 from Devin Thompson, who along with Randolph Thurman combined to make 7-of-8 free throws in the last two minutes to keep St. Mary’s in the lead.The Crusaders (1-7) were led by Alex Morsey, who dropped in 23 points, including 18 in a row for his team over a 5-minute stretch, while Brett DiPanfilo added 12 and Michael LaChance contributed 11.”We had to work for it,” St. Mary’s coach Kevin Moran said. “We knew they had two great shooters in Morsey and (Trevor) Grace (who had eight points), and once they get going they’re hard to stop.”Trailing 47-32 with 1:49 left in the third quarter, Morsey made a pair of 3-point plays and then connected on four straight 3-point shots, and then DiPanfilo hit a three from the left wing to tie the game at 56-56 with 2:15 left to play.A layup by Campbell was offset by two free throws from DiPanfilo, and Thurman was fouled in the backcourt when Fenwick pressed on the ensuing in-bounds play. Thurman hit both free throws to give the Spartans a 60-58 lead.Fenwick missed two 3-pointers on its next possession, and had a third chance to take the lead after a St. Mary’s turnover but missed another trey, and Thurman was fouled with 25 seconds left. Again, the freshman made a pair of free throws to put the Spartans ahead, this time by four.Ryan Likpa made a layup for Fenwick with 18.6 seconds left, and Thompson was fouled in the backcourt. He made two free throws, which were offset by a layup by Morsey, but with only 5.2 seconds remaining in the game.Fenwick fouled Thompson again, and he made the first free throw then missed the second. Grace got a good look at the basket from 25-feet away, but his shot hit the front of the rim.”I’m pleased with the way we fought back,” Fenwick coach Mike Kane said. “We played hard. That was our best effort this season.”St. Mary’s took an early 10-2 lead and led by as many as 10 points in the first quarter, but DiPanfilo sparked a run that eventually closed the gap to 20-16 with 6:44 left in the first half.Luis Rijo sank a 3-pointer from the left elbow to build St. Mary’s lead back up to 12 (30-18) with 3:24 left in the half, and the Spartans led, 33-25, at halftime.Fenwick scored the first five points of the second half, but Thomspon and Campbell keyed a 14-2 run that gave the Spartans their biggest lead of the game.