WOBURN — The St. Mary’s boys basketball team came out flying and never looked back Tuesday night, as the No. 1 Spartans ran past No. 4 Norton by a score of 87-49 in a Division 3 tournament semifinal game at Woburn Memorial High School.
With the win, the Spartans now advance to the Division 3 state championship game.
“These guys lost in this game two years ago, and they’ve never forgotten that,” said St. Mary’s coach Dave Brown. “They came out right away, played hard and acted like they really wanted it from the jump. They weren’t going to let the season end tonight.”
David Brown Jr. led the offensive attack with 23 points and five rebounds, while Omri Merryman shot the ball well from the field and finished with 16 points and four rebounds. Derick Coulanges added 10 points and four rebounds, while Henri Miraka had nine points and four rebounds. Ali Barry (seven points, two rebounds), Anthony D’Itria (six points, two rebounds) and Nick Sacco (four points, seven rebounds) also played well in the win.
“Looking up and down the bench and seeing all of these kids who have coached since they were 5 and 6 years old, it’s an emotional thing to see them performing on this kind of a stage,” said Brown.
But it was the defensive side of the ball where the Spartans really shined, and it’s where they’ve been shining all season. In the first halves of the past two games, St. Mary’s has allowed totals of 15 and 20 points, respectively.
“In scouting them before the game, we saw that they would be able to play well if we allowed them to get into the half court,” said Brown. “So the goal from the beginning was to pressure, pressure, pressure. Using that pressure and getting some steals and transition baskets off of it really help the momentum. When you start making those easy baskets, getting steals, making a dunk or anything like that, it gets the crowd into it and just fuels the guys to keep playing harder and harder.”
That defensive pressure was evident from the very start in this one. After the two teams traded 3-pointers to start, St. Mary’s locked down on the defensive side and raced ahead to a nine-point lead before Norton called a timeout.
The Spartans stretched that lead to as many as 11 points by the end of the first quarter, and that trend continued into the second. By the halftime break, St. Mary’s held a commanding 48-20 lead.
Things never got any closer from there, as the Spartans stretched out that lead to as many as 41 points before coasting to the victory in the second half.
St. Mary’s (27-1) will now play in the Division 3 state title game against No. 2 Watertown Friday night (7:30) at the Tsongas Center.
“The guys on this team weren’t on the squad four years ago when we lost to Watertown, but they were in the middle-school program and I remember looking up into the stands after we lost that game and seeing my son crying in the stands,” said Brown. “Those guys felt that loss and then a lot of them felt it for themselves two years ago when we came up short. We know Watertown is a great team, Harrington is a great coach and they’re going to come with a great game plan. It’s going to be a heck of a game Friday night.”
