STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — St. Peter’s won its unprecedented eighth consecutive Borough President Vito Fossella SIHSL Tournament championship last Thursday, but it didn’t come without trials and tribulations this season.
The No. 2-seeded Eagles, who defeated No. 4 St. Joseph by-the-Sea, 48-37, at Petrides HS, started the season 2-7 overall and suffered a few lopsided losses to some of the CHSAA AA city powers along the way.
In addition, head coach Ryan Woods’ squad suffered back-to-back CHSAA Staten Island losses to the Vikings and Monsignor Farrell during the first two weeks of December.
St. Peter’s, however, reeled off 6 of 7 wins in January with the lone defeat coming against perennial powerhouse Iona Prep in overtime.
The Eagles, who are now 8-2 against Island competition, bounced back enough to land the No. 2 seed and earning a double bye in the 32nd annual tourney. They defeated McKee/Staten Island Tech, Farrell and Sea to earn their Island-leading 39th SIHSL crown, including 16th in tourney play.
How’d it happen?
Here’s five reasons why the John Singleton Trophy will spend at least the next year back at the New Brighton school:
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St. Peter’s senior forward Nico Parlanti, seen above shooting the ball, averaged 16.3 points in three SIHSL Tournament games last week.(Advance/SILive.com | Jason Paderon)
*Nico Parlanti: The two-year varsity player went from sixth man role player a year ago to the lone returnee with any type of experience on the varsity level for the Eagles. He landed a starting spot right from the start and by mid-season, he was the only senior on the roster.
But as the season grew older, he obviously became more comfortable as a go-to player. Parlanti averaged 10.9 ppg in SP’s first 11 games, but averages 14.7 ppg in the last 12, including 10 games in double digits and four contests with 20-or-more points.
In addition, after connecting on just eight three-pointers in SP’s first 11 games, he has buried 24 in the last 12 contests, including seven of two-or-more. After finishing with only four last season, Parlanti has 32 treys including several big ones during crunch time.
Parlanti averaged 16.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game with nine three-pointers in three tourney games en route to Tony Rafaniello MVP honors. The senior also drew a team-leading four charges.
*Aaron Vazquez: The 6-foot-4 power forward sat out his entire sophomore season after transferring from Moore Catholic, then missed the entire preseason and the Eagles’ first three games because of a fractured elbow.
He returned in mid-December and gave St. Peter’s another legitimate interior presence as a scorer and rebounder.
He is averaging 8.7 ppg. and has come through with big buckets during crunch time as evidenced by his go-ahead basket in the waning seconds of SP’s 52-51 win over Bishop Loughlin.
Vazquez averaged 10.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in three SIHSL Tournament games en route to All-Tourney honors.
*Daunting schedule: Although the Eagles finished 2-8 in CHSAA AA play this season, playing the likes of Archbishop Stepinac, Cardinal Hayes, St. Francis Prep and St. Raymond’s undoubtedly helped them prepare for the tourney.
SP did record wins against Archbishop Molloy and Loughlin and lost overtime contests to both Iona Prep and Xaverian.
*Youthful exuberance: The majority of St. Peter’s 10-man rotation are juniors and sophomores who made their varsity debut this season.
The juniors include starters Vazquez and Victor Baez, sixth man Ryan Freeman, as well as Sean Gannon and Christian Wiese.
The sophomores, meanwhile, include two starters: center Tyler Schoenberg and point guard Noah Scott, both of which played prominent roles in the tourney. Scott, in fact, had the go-ahead three-point play during the semifinal win over Farrell and was named to the All-Tourney team.
Point guard A.J. Troia and sharp-shooter Ryan Christie are also sophs who round out the rotation.
The youngsters and first-time varsity players went through some growing pains over the course of the season, but they gained enough experience that had them ready for tourney play.
St. Peter’s sophomore Tyler Schoenberg (22) blocked five shots during the SIHSL Tournament championship game against St. Joseph by-the-Sea last Thursday.(Advance/SILive.com |Jason Paderon)
*Superb defense: The Eagles didn’t do anything radical defensively. But in keeping with program tradition, they primarily played a halfcourt, man-to-man D and do so well.
Baez is a lock-down defender who usually matches up against the opposition’s top guard or forward. Parlanti is equally effective as a shut down defender, but the Eagles’ coaching staff likely prefers to not tax its best offensive player.
St. Peter’s doesn’t lose much, if anything, with Gannon and Wiese coming off the bench.
The 6-foot-5 Schoenberg has already developed into a legit shot blocker as evidenced by his five blocks in championship.
The Eagles, who held Sea to only seven first-half points in the title game, limited the opposition to 46.6 points and 3.3 treys per game in three tourney games.
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