LYNN — The St. Mary’s boys basketball team capped off a big day for the Spartans at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium Sunday, taking home the Boverini Tournament championship with a 42-31 win over KIPP Academy.
With the St. Mary’s girls beating English earlier in the day, the wins marked the second year in a row the Spartans have swept the tournament.
“I couldn’t even tell you who led us in scoring,” St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown said. “A bunch of guys had between six to 10 points. Obviously we didn’t score too well but you have to expect a battle when you’re facing another Lynn team. These guys all know each other and they’re playing for a lot of pride. It was good to get the win.”
It truly was a team effort for the Spartans. Josh Perez and Henri Miraka each led the team with 10 points. Lisandro Pacheco, who won tournament MVP tacked on another nine points. Joseph Abate-Walsh (6 points) had a big night with 10 rebounds and two blocks.
Panther’s coach David White had plenty of respect for the Spartans after a tough loss.
“Year in and year out (St. Mary’s) is a phenomenal program,” White said. “Dave (Brown) does a great job with these guys. They have great athletes and great size. For us it’s a really good test. Our guys came out and fought hard. That’s all I can ask for. It’s a win in the long term for us because we’re battle tested.”
Winfred Sanchez led KIPP with 13 points while Algha Barry (9 points, 6 rebounds) knocked down three 3-pointers.
Both teams battled it out defensively in the first quarter, but in the end St. Mary’s edged out a 9-3 lead heading into the second.
Sanchez hit a 3-pointer to chip at the lead but baskets from Perez and Miraka forced a Panthers timeout. St. Mary’s came out of the timeout strong however, and pushed its lead to 19-10 after a Perez 3-pointer. KIPP ended the half on a three-point run to cut the deficit to 22-13.
The Panthers got the run they needed midway through the third quarter with three-straight 3-pointers from Barry to tie things up at 24-24.
St. Mary’s wasn’t fazed.
The Spartans pressed KIPP into three straight turnovers and took advantage on a six-point run to take a 30-24 lead.
“We’ve played a lot of games now in the past few weeks.” Brown said. “We haven’t been able to go over a lot of our defensive responsibilities in the press defense. We used it on the fly. We used it last week against Arlington Catholic. It was really effective (Sunday) and got us some easy baskets.
“You just can’t turn the ball over,” White said. “Unfortunately we didn’t play with much fundamentals (Sunday). Our guys played a lot of minutes so mentally they started to go. We asked a lot of them but they fought hard so I’m proud of the effort.”
KIPP never found consistent offensive momentum again and St. Mary’s bumped its lead up to as many as 11 on its way to a second straight Boverini title.
“We knew (KIPP) was going to defend very well which they did,” Brown said. “We didn’t knock down many shots. We didn’t play our best basketball. But it was good to get a big win in the city tournament. It’s always good to win a city championship.”
The Spartans host Mt. Pleasant (R.I.) Saturday (1:30) while KIPP travels to Lowell Catholic Friday (6:30).
