LYNN — The 63rd annual Harry Agganis Invitational basketball tournament is in the books.
Teams representing Weston, St George (Lynn), St Valsilios (Peabody), Roslindale, Arlington, St Nick’s) New York, Holy Trinity (Bridgeport), St Sophias (Albany), St George (Springfield, Whitestone NY and Chicago, IL. converged in Lynn this weekend.
The tournament was a double-elimination format, that saw many early upsets on Friday, with he defending high school champion Bridgeport being upset by St George of Lynn.
In the Open tournament, Chicago, led by legendary player/coach Kirk Vidas was taken to the last minute by a scrappy Roslindale team, while Sta Vals beat a combined Albany/Brooklyn team by 10 points
During Saturday’s games in the open division, St George (Lynn ) defeated St Valsilios, while defending champ Whitestone needed a 3-point shot by JD Douvres at the buzzer to beat Chicago and advance and play against St George.
Chicago moved to the elimination bracket and went on to beat Albany and Roslindale to set up a rematch of the loser between St George and Whitestone.
In the night game St George behind the shooting of Dimitri Flores and Dino Mallios beat Whitestone, 78-72. Whitestone and Chicago squared off again to see who would play in the men’s finals, and Chicago, behind the shooting of Nick Livas (21 points) and Dimitri Itsines (14) won 81-76 to set up a finals match with Lynn.
In the Saturday High School division, St Nick’s easily beat St George (Lynn) to advance to the final. Meanwhile, defending camp Bridgeport won four games Saturday to claw its way back in to the final.
In the championship game, Bridgeport and St Nick’s had an epic battle, with St Nick’s the 3 point shooting and size of New York was too much for Bridgeport team, and New York prevailed, NY prevailed, 77- 61.
In the Men’s division, it was “deja vu,” with Chicago again playing in an Agganis final against host St George.
In the first half, the stellar play of Mallios (15 points, 11 assists), Floras (25 points) and Ben Belotas (14) was able to offset the all around play of Nick Livas (29) and Dimitri Itsines (17) and take a 9-point lead at halftime.
St George pulled away in the second half, however Chicago cut the lead to five with four minutes to go. Key free throws by Vasili malls stopped the momentum and some timely 3-pointers by Floras and Mallios sealed an 79-70 victory for St George.
High school all-stars were Phil Georgin, St Nicks; Harri Giaroutsis, St Nicks; Paul Speliako, St George; Nick Shilling , Bridgeport; and Jack Begin, Bridgeport. The MVP was Teddy Polidides, with the Pastor’s Award going to Kostas Kosmides of New York,
Open division all-stars were Dino Mall, St George; Anthony Haztisavas, St George; Nick Livas, Chicago, Dimitri Itsines, Chicago and Pete Pappas, Whiteston. The MVP was Dimitir Flores.
