STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — It’s been an up-and-down season for a young St. Peter’s squad, but led by the lone senior on their roster, the Eagles of coach Ryan Woods are 7-2 over their last nine and playing their most consistent ball of the season as the postseason tournament’s near.
Team captain Nico Parlanti, the West Brighton school’s lone upperclassmen, knocked down a career-high 24 points and carried his team to the finish line with four clutch free throws in the game’s final 30 seconds to stave off a pesky Moore team as STP took a 62-57 CHSAASI decision from the Mavs in Graniteville.
The win marked the Eagles fourth in a row against Island CHSAA competition after the club began the season with a pair of losses to St. Joseph by-the-Sea and Monsignor Farrell.
The Mavs, meanwhile, fell to 0-6 in Island CHSAA tests.
“It’s never an easy place to play at Moore, but I think our boys did a great job in making plays when we had to especially down the stretch and we gutted it out,” said Woods.
STP jumped out to a 19-13 edge after one, and an 8-0 run to begin the second saw their lead balloon to 14 at 27-13. But the Mavs dug in and got solid play from senior guards Nick DeGrado and Matt Gibbons to close the half on a 16-4 jaunt, slicing the deficit to two at 31-29. The pair teamed for 11 markers during the spurt that was highlighted by a long top of the key three from Ky Perez.
“This time of year teams are bringing their best effort. They went on runs in the second and third quarters and we were able to stay the course,” he added. “The got some transition points – we were a little sloppy there – but we made some adjustments at halftime and were able to get the win.”
The Eagles got their lead back up to five throughout the third, but poor free-throw shooting kept them from pulling away. Parlanti was 9 for 10 on the evening from the stripe, but the rest of the Eagles struggled at a 5 for 16 clip.
Still, it was a task putting away the Mavs, who were coming off a heartbreaking 70-63 OT loss at home to Sea Wednesday night.
Moore game-high scorer Eenej Vinson (28 points) drove the lane and converted a three-point play to start the fourth, cutting the Eagle lead to 46-44.
The see-saw battle was tied at 52 at the 2:40 mark when DeGrado hit one of two from the line, but the Eagles went on a 6-0 run to create some space with key interior buckets from Aaron Vazquez (eight points) and Ryan Freeman (nine) to build a 58-52 bulge. The Mavs would cut the lead to 60-57 on a top of the key bomb from Vinson with :11 ticks left, but Parlanti calmly sank his freebies to secure the win.
As far as his lone senior’s performance, his coach spoke glowingly.
“Nico has been doing it for us all year as we continue to say; we rely on him at both ends of the floor,” lauded Woods. “His free throw shooting tonight so big for us especially in crunch time when we needed it most. He’s a leader and he’s been doing it all year long.”
At this time of year coaches are always looking for players to step up and in league battle’s anyone’s number can be called at any time and in this particular contest Woods got solid minutes off the bench from forward Christian Wiese.
The active junior totaled five points, but had several key rebounds and defensive stops much to the delight of his coach.
“Christian did a great job tonight for us,” praised Woods. “He’s played spot minutes all year, but he came in and defended well, hit a timely pull up and he just brings us a toughness and an edge and that is what we needed.”
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NOTES: Victor Baez chipped in with eight for STP, while DeGrado and Gibbons split 18 for Moore.
Tottenville’s Danny Garcia (3), shown here in an earlier game, nailed six three-pointers in the Pirates’ 86-45 PSAL 3A win over Eagle Academy (SI) on Senior Night.(Advance/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)
Tottenville 86, Eagle Academy (SI) 45
The Pirates registered the PSAL 3A victory at home behind a three-point shooting explosion.
Coach Kevin Alesi’s club connected on a whopping 17 shots from long-range as they upped their 3A mark to 10-3 on the campaign, 13-8 overall.
Senior guard Danny Garcia (six treys) and Nick Picinic (four) each scored 19 points to power the Tott’s landslide victory. Sean Bissou (three three’s) added 11, while Dom Mennella canned a pair from beyond the arc.
Garcia tallied all his points before the intermission as the winner’s jumped out to a 35-22 lead and never looked back.
“It was certainly nice to see Danny (Garcia) playing like Danny on Senior Night,” stated Alesi. “He is great kid who works extremely hard.”
“Nick (Picinic), another senior, has been great for us the past four games; he’s shooting the ball with no hesitation and playing with a lot of confidence at both ends of the floor,” said the vetaran head coach.
New Dorp 70, Port Richmond 35
The Centrals, who clinched at least a share of the SIPSAL 3A regular season crown, raced out to a 19-6 lead after one and never looked back as they doubled up the Raiders on the road.
Sergio Battista poured in 10 of his game-high 20 points in the opening stanza to spark the ND hot start. The sharp-shooting junior buried a pair of three’s in the first and hit two more in a second period barrage from downtown that led to a 35-14 lead at the break.
Elijah Pizarro (17 points) also found the stroke from beyond the arc as the senior nailed three triple’s in the second and two more in the third as Pat Hopkins’ club cruised to the win.
“Our senior leadership has really helped us in the second half of the season,” offered Hopkins, whose team upped their overall mark to 15-5 with the win. “We lost a few close ones in the second-half last year and these guys remember that. They’re doing everything that’s necessary to improve daily and finish strong. They have the right mindset and are focused on playing better basketball down the stretch.”
Omari Onwe had 10 for ND, while Billy Fraser and Joshua Carter split 14.
Andrew Lawrence led Port (2-11 PSAL 3A) with 14.
MSIT 73, Petrides 49
Ray Guerriero pumped in a game-high 22 points for the Gulls, who also got solid games from Nizayah Jordan (17 points) and Terence Legrand (12) in scoring the easy PSAL 3A win at home. Oliver Zoduwah and Dalton Cherubin teamed for another 15.
MSIT raced out to a 23-14 lead after one on the back of Guerriero who scored 13 over the contest’s first eight minutes.
The winners upped their 3A mark to 9-4, good for third-place in the division, behind New Dorp (11-2) and Tottenville (10-3).
Kareem Nesbitt led the Panthers with 18, while Jason Dennis and Aiden Gonzalez teamed for 19.