Agganis hoop ends in exciting fashion

The 59th annual Harry Agganis basketball tournament ended as it began, with last-minute heroics from the junior boys to the men?s championship final.On Thursday night in a matchup of the juniors, Chris Kozakis of Lynn nailed a 15-foot jump at the buzzer to defeat St. Val?s of Peabody 17-15. In the men?s final, with St. George of Lynn down by three, Ben Bartolos stole the ball for a breakaway dunk. A Dino Mallios steal resulted in two free throws by Bartolos to put Lynn ahead. A final stop by Lynn caused New York to foul Jimmy Perriakos, who made two free throws to ice the game and give Lynn its fourth Agganis championship.All-Stars were: Mallios (Lynn), Derek Retos (Lynn), Chris Tevantzis (NY), Dimitri Dimitropou (NY), John Teehan (St. Val?s) and MVP Bartolos (Lynn).In the round robin high school division, St. Sofia?s of Albany overcame an early loss to scratch back to the boys final by beating St. Val?s of Peabody 59-54, Roslindale 67-58 and St. George of Lynn 61-57 to take on defending champion Manchester, NH. With 10 minutes to play in the second half, the defense of Manchester and hot shooting of MVP Nolan Flynn (29 pts.) was too much for St. Sofia?s, who was led by John Moutopoulos of Albany with 27 points. The final score was 69-60, Manchester.All-Stars were: Flynn (Manchester), Nick Makris (Manchester), Moutopoulos (Albany), George Merinopoulos (Albany), Stratis Saranteas (Lynn). The MVP was Flynn of Manchester.Also presented in the boys division is the Pastor?s award, sponsored by Rev. Fr. George Tsoukalas. This year, the award went to Moutopoulos.In the Girls Division, the St. George of Lynn girls and the Taxiarchae of Watertown squared off in what turned out to be another close final. St. George, behind the defense of Nicky Tsiotos and G. Primpas, led 19-12. Watertown, however, fought back behind the defense of Meg Delaporta and shooting of Olivia Giannakopoulos to cut the lead to two points with one minute to play. A layup by Lexi Kyriacou with 30 seconds to play iced it for the girls of St. George, who won 30-26.The tournament also presented the annual “Maz” Award to the “Maz Team.” This was a group of lifelong friends of George Mazareas that played basketball together and continue this bond to this day supporting Mazareas in his fight with ALS. The recipients were: Andy Papagikas, Jimmy Bouras, Nick Primpas, Nick Metropoulos, John Papanastasiou and Steve Arsenis.