LYNN — St. Mary’s boys basketball coach Dave Brown says he isn’t afraid to match his Spartans up against the state’s top teams.
Wednesday night at Tony Conigliaro Gymnasium, the Spartans got all they could handle from two-time defending Division 2 state champion TechBoston in a 64-63 St. Mary’s win.
“This game shows me the value of practice time,” Brown said. “We’ve been hurting over the last two weeks with guys being under the weather and battling sickness. We haven’t been able to get our top guys at practice to work things out. It showed in the games we lost. We went to Maine, got a game in and a practice in. It really showed (Wednesday) when we were able to compete against one of the better teams in the state.”
With win No. 11 on the season, the Spartans (11-2) are officially in the Division 3 North state tournament.
“That’s always a goal right away,” Brown said. “Get in the state tournament, win the city championship, win the league and try to compete come state tournament time. It’s always nice to get the state tournament out of the way.”
It was Joey Abate-Walsh who did the heavy lifting for the Spartans Wednesday. The senior forward led all scorers with 26 points.
“Joey’s been playing tremendous,” Brown said. “Over the last six or seven games, he’s averaging around 20 points with double figure rebounds. He’s really coming into his own. When he makes shots, it opens things up for the rest of the guys. Now he’s actually putting the ball on the floor and attacking as well.”
Abate-Walsh knocked in a corner 3 and hit Lee Pacheco (11 points) with a nice pass for an open layup, helping the Spartans to their first points of the night. TechBoston ran out to 11-7 edge within the next few minutes. Abate-Walsh’s and-one followed by his 3-pointer and another from Ali Barry allowed the Spartans to match TechBoston basket for basket. Pacheco gave St. Mary’s a 19-18 edge with an and-one but the Bears closed the quarter on a 4-0 run.
Barry’s 3-pointer with 4:25 to play until halftime gave the Spartans a 26-24 edge. St. Mary’s committed a shot clock violation on its ensuing possession, opening the door for TechBoston to regain the lead via Chris Norman’s (25 points) 3-pointer. At halftime, it was all even at 34-34.
Things started to get away from TechBoston in the third quarter. Abate-Walsh hit a turnaround jumper, lifting St. Mary’s to a 47-40 lead with 3:05 to go in the period. Barry bumped the lead to nine with a clean floater. Norman closed the quarter with a bucket and TechBoston trailed 49-42 heading into the fourth.
Sammy Batista opened the scoring two minutes into the final period with a 3-pointer, extending the Spartans lead to 52-42.
The resilient Bears cut the lead in half, 60-55, when Norman corralled an offensive rebound after a missed free throw and laid it in with 1:03 remaining. Alan Nunez’s 3-pointer with 8.7 seconds to go brought the Bears within three, 63-60. Abate-Walsh gave the Spartans breathing room with a free throw before TechBoston closed the game with Norman’s 3.
“When I took over this program I wanted to play against the best teams in the state,” Brown said. “My kids enjoy this. I’ll take this type of game, win or lose, over a 30-point win any day of the week.”
St. Mary’s shifts gears toward preparing for Friday’s (6:30) game against Catholic Central League Fenwick.
“We’re playing for the lead in the league at the midway point of the season,” Brown said. “We’re expecting a big crowd here. I’m going to put it on the St. Mary’s student to support the boys against our rival.”
