TAUNTON — No. 1 St. Mary’s saw its season come to an end in the Division 3 Final Four, falling to No. 20 Old Rochester in a heartbreaking 70-63 loss at Taunton High School Tuesday evening.
Nearly every game this season, the Spartans (24-2) found a way to deal with adversity. Tuesday night, when they needed to find baskets in the second half, they went cold.
“All of a sudden, you miss a few and then, we get a little bit tighter,” said St. Mary’s Coach David Brown.
The Spartans led, 19-18, after the first quarter and extended their lead to 11 (36-25) at halftime thanks to 12 first-half points from Jake Fortier, who had it going from distance.
In the second half, however, the Bulldogs upped their defensive pressure and limited St. Mary’s to one shot per possession.
“I tip my hat to them,” Brown said.
The Bulldogs outscored St. Mary’s, 22-10, in the third quarter to snatch a 47-46 lead.
And in the fourth quarter, the turnovers continued to pile up for St. Mary’s, while the confidence grew in Old Rochester.
Also, “we just didn’t make shots,” according to Brown.
“JJ Martinez (19 points) got to the rim, but missed a few, June (Vasquez) and Jake (Fortier) got some wide-open shots,” Brown said. “They were contested for the most part, but those are the shots we’ve made over the course of the year.”
When the final buzzer sounded, a few Spartans were in disbelief as a long journey ended one game short. Despite not making it to the state final, you could say it was a special season given to the St. Mary’s faithful.
“These kids gave me everything they had throughout the season and offseason. There are a lot of emotionally-upset kids in there, but when they have an opportunity to look back on what they accomplished during the season, they’ll know there were a lot more ups than downs,” Brown said. “I’ve always said the game is about makes and misses. In the second half, we couldn’t make many shots. I don’t know if it was the two-and-a-half-hour commute that we were put through, which makes no sense to me. I don’t know if it had to do with us having to leave the school at 3/3:30 p.m. to play at 7 p.m. It was tough on us, but they did an excellent job on defense.”
The Spartans are moving up to Division 2 next season. Brown hopes Tuesday’s experience can help his returning players.
“Hopefully, this will help them understand how tough it is to win the championship. You can’t look past teams. You have to be locked in from every practice to every blackboard session,” he said. “Maybe I put a bit of this on myself. We went to the (St. Mary’s) girls’ game yesterday to support them. I thought my team was ready, but, hey, the players will learn from it and the coaches will learn from this.”
Brown says goodbye to five seniors, all of whom made an impact toward the program.
“Luke Phelan has been part of the program since middle school. He played all the way up. No one had him penciled in for varsity minutes, but he worked his butt off the last couple of years and played meaningful minutes for us this year. I’m so happy for him. He had the opportunity to be a meaningful varsity player,” Brown said. “Shea Newhall joined us this year. He made things hard for us in practice. I’m happy he was able to be a part of a great experience of helping the team make the Final Four.
“Tyler Guy is a winner. He’s done a lot of winning in his career. From basketball to football, he’s done it all. I wish him nothing but the best of luck in football in college,” Brown said. “He’s given us everything when he’s stepped on the floor. We’re going to drastically miss him next year.”
St. Mary’s also graduates the Catholic Central League’s Defensive Player of the Year in Devell Pamplin, in addition to Donel Mutombo, who won a state championship back in 2022.
“Devell Pamplin was the emotional leader of this team. When things were going good, he really took it to another level. He’s worked super hard in the classroom to get accepted into some colleges, which I’m proud of him for. I’m happy to see him move on to the next level,” Brown said. “Donel Mutombo was a part of this for four years. He was on the state championship team as a freshman, lost in the championship game as a sophomore, and lost in the semifinals today. He’s done a lot of winning and, hopefully, he can go and play at the next level in college. I can’t thank him enough for the effort he’s put in over the last four years.”
No. 20 Old Rochester will face No. 2 Norwell in the state championship at the Tsongas Center in Lowell (TBD).
