LYNN— The Bishop Fenwick boys basketball team knew it would have its hands full against St. Mary’s Friday night. Perhaps what the Crusaders weren’t expecting was that the Spartans would shoot the ball as effectively as they did.
St. Mary’s banked in nine 3-pointers on its way to a 68-49 win over Catholic Central League rival Fenwick at Conigliaro Gymnasium.
Leading the St. Mary’s charge were Joseph Abate-Walsh and Jalen Echevarria, who each scored 17 points. Chibuikem Onwuogu added 10 points and Frankie Imbruglia tallied eight off the bench.
For the Crusaders, JaySean Stuart scored 17 points and Nik Pignone finished with 16.
From the opening tip-off it was evident that Friday night’s game belonged to St. Mary’s. Abate-Walsh scored the first eight points of the game on a pair of 3-pointers and a basket, putting Fenwick in an early hole. Things worsened for the Crusaders when the Spartans added another 11 points to their lead before Fenwick found the scoreboard on a bucket by Nate Andrews (six points). After one, the Spartans were in total control with a 29-2 advantage.
“We knew going into it that we were the stronger basketball team,” Spartans coach Dave Brown said. “Joey knocked in some shots, we got a few steals in transition and that’s good to see. We scored 29 points in the first quarter, that’s good to see. We’ve been struggling to score 29 in a half.”
Fenwick found its flow in a much-improved second quarter. Pignone knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and Jack Keenan (six points) added one of his own. The Crusaders outscored St. Mary’s 15-13 in the second quarter but it wasn’t enough to crawl back in. The Spartans led comfortably at 42-17 at halftime.
“Our expectation was to come in here and play one of the best teams in the state,” Crusaders coach Kevin Moran said. “From my perspective, it’s about coming in here and competing. It’s on me, we didn’t compete in the first quarter. St. Mary’s is so good that if you’re not ready to play, that’s what happens.”
St. Mary’s featured seven different scorers in the first half.
“We have a lot of kids that can shoot the 3-ball,” Brown said. “Like I’ve said from the very beginning, we have five or six different kids that can lead us in scoring on any given night. They were all confident with their shot.”
To Fenwick’s credit, the Crusaders didn’t lay down in the second half. In fact, just as they did in the second quarter, the Crusaders outscored the Spartans in the third and fourth periods.
After Onwuogu provided one of the better highlights of the night with a slam dunk to start the third quarter, Fenwick got to work. Although the Spartans led 54-31 at the end of three, Fenwick’s Stuart left his best for the fourth quarter.
Stuart rattled off a spurt of eight points in a row in the fourth quarter, helping Fenwick whittle the deficit down to 12 points. That forced St. Mary’s to call a timeout and put its starters back in the game.
“After that first quarter there’s two ways to go: right or left,” Moran said. “We competed and that’s you want as a coach.”
St. Mary’s starting five sealed the win in the closing minutes and the Spartans walked away with the 68-49 victory to improve their record to 9-1.
“Fenwick didn’t quit,” Brown said. “They battled back and cut it to 12, which is impressive. We know that we’re in for a battle every night in our league (CCL). Teams won’t quit, even if they’re down by 10 or 15 points.”
The Spartans are back in action Monday night (6:30) when they host Archbishop Williams. A St. Mary’s win would cement a bid in the state tournament for the Spartans.
Fenwick dropped to 3-9 and aims for a win Sunday when the Crusaders visit Peabody.
“Turnovers hurt us and if we limit those we can do a lot better,” Moran said. “Looking at Peabody, they have a lot of athletes. Hopefully we can cut down our turnovers and compete with them. It’s a crosstown rivalry so hopefully we’ll be ready to play.”
