Backcourt duo scores 38 points between them in victory

BOSTON – A decade long wait to get back to the parquet floor of the TD Garden for the St. Mary?s boys basketball team came to an end on Friday at the Yawkey Center on the campus of Emmanuel College.Nick Gagliolo and Devin Thompson did what they do best – they led the Spartans to victory.The dynamic backcourt duo combined for 38 points as St. Mary?s rolled to the Division 4 North title with a 62-39 win over Pope John.?Devin and I just work well together,” Gagliolo said after torching the Tigers for 20 points without going to the foul line. “And we have a lot of other guys that help us pick up the slack too.”The Tigers really never had an answer for what St. Mary?s was doing at the offensive end, or for that matter, on the defensive end either. Pope John?s leading scorer Malcolm Brown was held in check most of the way, finishing with 13 points, many of which came with the game completely out of hand.?Malcolm is a great player,” St. Mary?s coach Kevin Moran said. “But to hold him to three buckets speaks volumes to how we played defense.”St. Mary?s was up 12 at the break before its backcourt tandem went berserk in the third quarter, ending all doubts about the outcome.Gagliolo scored eight of his points in the third and Thompson added the Spartans first seven in the final period as they turned a 30-18 halftime lead into a 53-31 lead with 5:40 remaining.?Our games complement one another,” Thompson said. “He gets to the rim and drives in and if they crash on him, he can kick it out to me. And we can score.”The duo?s plundering of the opposition is nothing new in this tournament, having lit up Manchester-Essex like a Christmas tree in the semifinals.?Those numbers are a testament to how those two drive us,” Moran said. “They have driven us offensively for a long time and their efforts are a big reason why we got here.”There is a third member of the back court that both Gagliolo and Thompson singled out in Randolf Thurman, who?s steadying presence helped the Spartans survive the Tigers efforts to pressure in the backcourt.?Randolf is a huge part of what we do,” Thompson said. “It?s hard to play without a point guard and he is a good one.”St. Mary?s now gets a chance to avenge a late season loss to Cathedral and Gagliolo knows that it is going to be a war on the parquet floor Monday afternoon.?We know how big this game is,” Gagliolo said. “You can?t ask for anything more than to play your last game in Boston and we know it?s going to be a great game against (Cathedral).”