LYNN — A promising season ended too early for the St. Mary’s boys basketball team last winter. The Spartans came into the season with a loaded roster and state championship aspirations. They finished the regular season 20-2, earned the No. 1 seed in the Division 3 North state tournament and cruised to the sectional semifinal. That’s where No. 10 Bedford ended the Spartans’ tournament run with a 63-59 upset win.
Coach Dave Brown hopes his team has learned from the defeat.
“It was a tough ending last year after a very successful season,” Brown said. “Being at St. Mary’s, we’re judged by how the season ends and that’s not the ending we wanted. I think the kids will learn from that. I always tell them that on any given night, anybody can win in the game of basketball. They’re pretty motivated. We have to stay humble and not worry about individual goals. We have to try and win night in and night out.”
The Spartans graduated 1,000-point scorer Jalen Echevarria, who’s now a freshman starter on the men’s team at Endicott College. Back in the mix are seven returners from last year’s team, led by senior forward Joseph Abate. Lee Pacheco and Joshua Perez, also senior forwards, will step into big roles on both ends of the floor.
“Joseph’s going to be looked at to be one of our main scorers,” Brown said. “I’m hoping this team has a balanced attack. Josh has been a starter for three years and a four-year player. Lee’s a great athlete who just came off winning a state championship in baseball. He’s a proven winner. We have great pieces around Joey. If teams start focusing around Joey, we’ll be capable of putting the ball in the hoop in other places.”
Also returning are guards Ali Barry (sophomore), Sammy Batiste (junior), David Brown Jr. (freshman) and Henri Miraka (sophomore).
“I’ve been coaching high school basketball for 17 years now,” Brown said. “I could tell last year things weren’t going well at the end of the season. This year I see the total opposite. We have guys that get along with each other. We have a common goal to show that even though we lost at the end last year and we lost some good basketball players, we’re still trying to be one of the top teams in the area.”
St. Mary’s foresees a tough road ahead in the Catholic Central League.
“Cardinal Spellman’s returning great players,” Brown said. “It’s always tough to win on the road in the league. Arlington Catholic always plays smart. I think Fenwick will be much improved. It’s always tough to go on the road in our league because of the sizes of the gyms and the atmospheres you walk into.”
Non-conference games on the schedule include New Bedford, Dracut, TechBoston, Pentucket, Malden Catholic, St. John’s Prep, Portland (ME) and Mount Pleasant (RI).
“We’ll take it one game at a time,” Brown said. “Our main goals are to compete for a City Championship, compete for a league championship and compete in states. Hopefully by the time states roll around our younger guys are battle-tested and we’ll be ready to compete there as well.
“We didn’t shy away from stacking our non-league schedule.”
Brown has liked what he’s seen from the Spartans through the first few days of practice.
“We’re working hard,” Brown said. “We’re not as deep as we’ve been in some past years but I think our top seven can compete. I’m very optimistic about how hard our kids work and how we’ll come together as a basketball team.”
St. Mary’s opens the season next Friday at Williams (6:30).
