LYNN — This one got out of hand shortly after it started. The Tech boys basketball team spotted St. Mary’s the first 10 points of Thursday night’s game and never recovered. The rout was on midway through the first quarter and St. Mary’s coasted to a 77-25 win over the Tigers in the first round of the Walter J. Boverini Tournament at Tech’s Field House.
The Boverini woes continue for the Tigers, who haven’t won a game in the tournament in its past three runnings.
“It’s extremely frustrating,” Tech coach Stevie Patrick said. “I don’t think they’ve won a (Boverini) game since I’ve been JV coach. I think it’s been 10 years. They haven’t won a (Boverini) game since before I got here. It’s plain and simple, they just didn’t show up.
“It was one of those stagefright things. You get out there, the lights are on, you have all these people you aren’t used to seeing. You forget everything we went through for the week.”
St. Mary’s featured 11 different scorers, two of which reached double-digits. Sammy Batista scored 18 points with three steals and two assists. Jalen Echevarria scored 13 points with four assists and three steals. Ademide Badmus added nine points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
“It was good to see some of the young guys get out there and get some varsity experience,” St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown said. “That isn’t the same Tech team they expected to have this year. Rob Wallace is out with an injury. They lost another kid who didn’t play basketball this year. I expect they’ll get better as the season goes on. We played some good competition coming in so the game was a little fast for them, a little slow for us. We made some steals, knocked in some shots. It was good to see the young kids get valuable minutes in the city tournament.”
For Tech, Johan Ortega led the scoring with 12 points. Amari Gaston finished with seven.
St. Mary’s went on a 10-0 run before the Tigers clawed their way on the scoreboard thanks to Gaston’s free throw. Echevarria scored the next seven points and burned an early timeout down 17-1. The Tigers trailed 28-5 at the end of the opening quarter.
“We didn’t show up,” Patrick said. “It’s that simple. We prepared. It’s not like we didn’t prepare. We prepared for two weeks, pretty much. I’m tired of feeling like this after this tournament. It has to be a point where they’re going to stand up.”
A much-improved offensive effort in the second quarter saw Tech score 11 points. But the Tigers trailed 46-16 at halftime and St. Mary’s emptied its bench the rest of the way.
The Spartans rolled through the second half, en route to the 77-25 win. St. Mary’s will clash against English in Saturday’s (6) championship game.
“English is playing great basketball right now,” Brown said. “They get after it on the defensive end. Jarnel (Guzman) is running the show over there very well right now. We have to defend and take care of the ball. Classical had them in a six-point game (in Wednesday’s opening round game) and before you know it it’s 18 points on turnovers and knock-down three’s. We have to defend and take care of the ball. That’s going to be important.”
Tech will battle Classical (2) in the consolation round.
