BOSTON — St. Mary’s basketball coach Dave Brown doesn’t shy away from matching his Spartans up against top-notch opponents. Monday night at Cathedral High, the Spartans took on one of the toughest opponents on their schedule in Division 3 South powerhouse Burke.
The Spartans bolted out to a 23-point lead after one quarter and never looked back, en route to an 81-43 win at the BABC/Slades Basketball Classic.
Jalen Echevarria led all scorers with 23 points. Ademide Badmus tallied 17 points and Joey Abate-Walsh scored 16 points. Abate-Walsh and Badmus each grabbed seven rebounds. Josh Perez dished a game-high eight assists.
New Jersey Institute of Technology commit Levar Williams led the Bulldogs with 15 points.
“Our biggest thing is to play every game like it could be our last game,” Brown said. “We knew this was a big game here. They’re probably the favorite in Division 3 South. If we happen to see them again a month from now it won’t be the same team because their point guard (out with injury) makes them go. But we have to play against who’s out on the floor and that’s what we did tonight.
“It was good to see that guys didn’t think that just because they were missing one of their best players we didn’t have to bring the effort. Our guys came out and played hard, which was good to see.”
The first quarter was perhaps the best period the Spartans have played all season. Abate-Walsh had the hot hand early, knocking in a pair of 3-pointers to help St. Mary’s claim a 9-0 lead out of the gate. Burke burned a timeout but Abate-Walsh netted another 3-pointer before the Bulldogs found the scoreboard on a Williams jumper.
“That just happened,” Brown said of Abate-Walsh’s strong start. “We know Joey’s a shooter. He’s been struggling a little bit, he was 1-for-9 last game. We tell him to let it fly. He knocked down some early ones, which was good for him. That opened things up for Jalen and our post guys.”
St. Mary’s continued with an 8-0 run, placing Burke on its heels in a 20-2 hole. The Spartans led 27-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Things were much more even in the second quarter. Burke started to find its footing offensively by hitting its open looks. The Bulldogs swished three 3-pointers in the second quarter but St. Mary’s remained in control with a 42-23 lead at the midway break.
St. Mary’s lead ballooned into the 40s with back to back 3-pointers from Echevarria and Marcus Brunson-Perez (eight points, four rebounds, three assists) in the closing seconds of the third quarter.
Brown’s underclassmen held down the fort in the fourth quarter and sealed the win. Henri Miraka (six points), Marvens Rosirus (four points) and David Brown (three points) highlighted the final period.
“That’s going to help us, as well as them in the future,” Brown said. “We have some sophomores who are getting good, quality minutes and then the young boys as well. If I can get them seven-eight minutes a game, they’ll be ready. In practice those guys go up against our top seven. They’re facing great competition so they shouldn’t shy away from it. It’s good to see they played hard when they got out there.”
The Spartans (13-0) bounce back into Catholic Central League play Friday (6:30) when they visit Archbishop Williams.
