SALEM — With around five minutes remaining in an Elite 8 matchup between No. 2 St. Mary’s and No. 7 Tech Boston in Division 3, St. Mary’s David Brown Jr. threw a no-look pass to Omri Merryman for a two-handed dunk.
In an 83-71 win for the Spartans at Salem State, that play pretty much sums it up.
St. Mary’s – behind, frankly, its team play and skill – was led by Brown Jr. (27 points), Merryman (15), Nick Sacco (13), and JJ Martinez (12) Saturday afternoon.
“We’ve had six guys, throughout the year, score 20 points at one point or another this season,” St. Mary’s head coach David Brown Sr. said. “We have a lot of confidence in all of our guys to score.”
Now, St. Mary’s will take on No. 3 Old Rochester in its toughest matchup of the postseason thus far.
“They’ve got some size, they’ve got some athletic kids,” Brown Sr. said. “We just have to play the way we’re capable of playing, and we’ll see how things go.”
But let’s talk about Saturday. The Spartans raced – literally and figuratively – to a 9-0 lead in the first quarter with five players scoring field goals. St. Mary’s was already ahead by double-digits after one (24-13).
“We played very well in the first half, especially the first quarter,” Brown Sr. said. “We defended well, we forced some turnovers, and we knocked down some shots.”
The talk of the gym, however, was how St. Mary’s was scoring. From another Merryman dunk, to some pull-up threes from Brown Jr., and to a tough and-one from Martinez, the hosts did it all.
Brown Jr. said unselfish play “becomes contagious.”
“We really focused on narrowing down our playbook [and] running our sets correctly,” Brown Sr. said. “We moved the ball pretty well today.”
But none stole the show more than Brown Jr. The senior – who has committed to studying and playing football at Bentley this fall – made it a priority to get things going early.
“We need to come out fast,” Brown Jr. said. “Keep your foot on the pedal and go from there.”
He was the definition of a triple-threat (shooting, dribbling, passing), and when asked which was his favorite, he said it’s more about speed.
“Just face-paced,” Brown Jr. said. “I like when I get downhill [and] find open teammates. They have to respect them… and it opens up the lane for me.”
Both Browns agreed Saturday’s performance was among the team’s best this season. The Spartans’ lead ballooned to 58-28 at one point during the third quarter, and the offensive pressure remained relentless throughout.
“That’s all we worked on in practice this week,” Brown Jr. said. “Relocating [and] finding our open teammates.”
Despite Tech Boston – which was led by Michael DeLeon’s 20 points – making a run against St. Mary’s substitute players late, things were never in jeopardy.
Sacco did a lot of things that won’t show up on a statsheet, and Brown Jr. made sure to give his teammate some credit postgame.
“I say Sacco,” Brown Jr. said of a teammate who impressed him. “People don’t really notice… he’s boxing out his man, setting good screens, and he’s always finishing around the basket.”
