LYNN — The St. Mary’s boys basketball team was tested as much, if not more, than it had been all season on Friday night, but in the end the No. 1 Spartans were able to pull away in the second half to pick up a 64-48 win over No. 8 Dover-Sherborn in a Division 3 tournament quarterfinal round game at Paul F. Cavanagh Field House.
“Those guys really beat us up on the boards early and gave us a real run,” said St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown. “Talking to the guys in the third quarter, we said ‘this is where we want to be.’ We worked our butts off this season to get to this point, where we’re tested by the best teams in the state, and this is what we asked for.
“We didn’t shoot the ball very well tonight, especially at the free throw line, but we had a bunch of guys step up and give us big minutes.”
Two of those guys Brown was talking about were his first, and only, two players off the bench — Anthony D’Itria and Nick Sacco. D’Itria came off the pine to hit four 3-pointers and finish with 14 points and five rebounds, while Sacco was a force on the boards and finished with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds.
“We talk all the time about how at some point, each guy is going to have their number called and is going to need to step up for us,” said Brown. “Anthony and Nick had huge games for us tonight, and that’s exactly what we needed. They got us going and were a huge part of the win.”
David Brown Jr. led the scoring attack for St. Mary’s with 17 points and six rebounds, while Ali Barry was close behind with 16 points and six rebounds. Henri Miraka also had a solid game with four points and seven rebounds.
The game was a back-and-forth battle from the very start, as the Spartans pulled out to an 11-6 lead before Jonathan Windle hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to make it an 11-9 game after one quarter. The second quarter was much of the same, as St. Mary’s again jumped ahead by seven points and Dover-Sherborn again battled back. By halftime, the Spartans held a 27-24 lead.
After Dover-Sherborn raced out and tied the score at 30-30 early in the third quarter, St. Mary’s started to settle in a bit. Brown began driving the ball to the basket and making tough contact layups, while D’Itria started heating up from deep and Sacco started pounding the glass. Along with some baskets from Barry, the Spartans pulled ahead 47-34 by the end of the third quarter and never looked back.
St. Mary’s held the lead for the entire fourth quarter and never let the deficit get back to single digits, but there was a small scare late in the game when Brown went down awkwardly and had to come out of the game for a few minutes. But he quickly returned to the action and remained on the court until the final buzzer that sent the Spartans on to the next round.
St. Mary’s (26-1) has now punched its ticket to the Div. 3 semifinal, where the Spartans will host either No. 4 Norton or No. 12 Old Rochester at a date, time and location to be determined.
“I think after (Friday), these guys have seen that if we come out flat against a quality opponent like that then we’re going to be in trouble,” said Brown. “We’re going to get back and watch some film, take in some of the games (Saturday) and then get back in the gym for work on Sunday. We’re not done yet.”
