LYNN — After capping off his high school basketball career with a stellar senior season, St. Mary’s forward Joe Abate-Walsh is making the move to the next level. After considering his options, Abate-Walsh has committed to play at Nichols College next season. A number of schools showed interest in Abate-Walsh, including UMass Boston, Keene State and Franklin Pierce, but Nichols ended up being the right choice for the senior forward.
“Nichols was one of the first schools that I was interested in,” Abate-Walsh said. “Then once I went on a visit there, I just loved it. They have a great program that has a winning culture and it’s a place that I really wanted to be.”
Abate-Walsh had a huge season as a senior for the Spartans, averaging a double-double en route to Catholic Central League Large MVP honors. He scored his 1,000th career point in a 29-point outburst on Senior Night and played a key role throughout the Spartans’ run to the Division 3 state semifinal.
But even more than his strong senior season, Abate-Walsh appreciates the work that went into building himself up over the years. After transferring to St. Mary’s as a sophomore, Abate-Walsh had to work his way into finding a role. He credits his teammates over the years — players like Jalen Echevarria, Stephen Fama and Chibuikem Onwuogu — for helping him get his feet underneath him.
“I really learned a lot from those guys in the first couple years,” Abate-Walsh said. “Stephen Fama was the first one who just told me, ‘just buy into the system and good things will happen.’ I really learned how to play a specific role in those early years and then evolve my game from there as I got older.”
St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown has seen up close the transformation Abate-Walsh has made from role player into go-to scorer.
“Coming in as a sophomore, he had little to no varsity experience,” said Brown. “But he was still a great scorer and a great shooter for his size, so he was able to work himself in and find a role early on. From there, he really put in the work and became a much better player, and then by his senior year he was our No. 1 option who led us in scoring.”
Moving forward, Brown knows that Abate-Walsh has the size and ability to have a great career at the next level. How great is all going to depend on the amount of work he puts in from here on out.
“He shoots well for his size, he can handle the ball well and he has good instincts,” said Brown. “He’s just got to get in the weight room and gain some size, then he’ll be hard to guard all the time. He’ll be able to take smaller guys into the paint and then take big guys to the perimeter and shoot over them.”
Abate-Walsh has been doing that work, as he’s already gotten his offseason workout plan from Nichols. He also found a basketball court near his house that has remained open throughout the pandemic shutdown, so he’s been able to keep his game sharp.
