{"id":118795,"date":"2026-02-01T02:15:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T02:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/118795\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T02:15:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T02:15:25","slug":"borough-presidents-cup-2026-st-joseph-by-the-sea-makes-it-a-three-peat-with-emphatic-win-over-moore-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/118795\/","title":{"rendered":"Borough President\u2019s Cup 2026: St. Joseph by-the-Sea makes it a three-peat with emphatic win over Moore (photos)"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 Winning a tournament championship game to complete a three-peat is impressive on its own, but the St. Joseph by-the-Sea Vikings took it a step further on Saturday, delivering a dominant 82\u201347 rout of No. 1-seeded Moore Catholic to keep the Borough President\u2019s Cup in Huguenot once again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great because this is such a different team than the last two years. Our kids were counted out a bit in the offseason and even at times this year, and we\u2019ve had our ups and downs while adjusting a lot of young players. That\u2019s what makes it so sweet to see them perform the way they did tonight,\u201d head coach Josh Suslak said after the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of them, especially beating a great team like Moore. They\u2019ve been running through their league, Coach Gene does a great job, and anytime you beat a team with a great coach and good players, it makes it even sweeter. Nothing that comes easy should feel good\u2014 and this wasn\u2019t easy,” he continued.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1\/14<\/p>\n

Borough President’s Cup Championship Game<\/p>\n

The Vikings certainly worked hard to get here but made it look easy against the Mavericks. After Moore opened the game with a quick 7\u20130 run, the Vikings clearly had a fire lit under them, building a 40-30 halftime lead before turning up the heat over the final two quarters.<\/p>\n

Leading the charge for the Vikings was Isabella Castania with a team-high 19 points, while Maria O\u2019Connell and Olivia DiMonda added 14 points apiece, with DiMonda earning the tournament\u2019s MVP honors.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s improved so much over the past three years as a varsity player, making leaps and bounds each season. Obviously it\u2019s her speed, but she\u2019s also grown as a shooter, getting to the basket, drawing fouls, improving at the free-throw line, and leading on the defensive end. She plays a complete game for 32 minutes, which isn\u2019t easy, and I\u2019m very proud of her \u2014 though at this point in her career, I\u2019m not surprised,” Suslak said of his star senior.<\/p>\n

DiMonda herself assessed her performance, saying, \u201cI think the biggest thing I contributed to this game was just bringing the momentum for my team and helping push the ball at all times; I\u2019m very thankful to be the MVP of this tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to the Vikings\u2019 scorching offense, their defense was just as impressive, as Moore struggled to break Sea\u2019s intense half-court press, resulting in multiple turnovers and 10-second violations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s who we are. We like to let our defense create offense as much as we can. It doesn\u2019t always work\u2014sometimes teams make us look silly on the press, and there were times Moore beat it pretty easily\u2014 but it also gave us some extra possessions, which helped us open up a lead,” Suslak said of his team\u2019s defensive pressure throughout the game.<\/p>\n

Lastly, when asked about Sea\u2019s recent stretch over the last few years\u2014 which has included three straight BP Cups and the production of NCAA-level talents such as Danielle Williamsen and Angelina Hodgens\u2014 Suslak said that \u201cthese last few years have been right up there with the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always had teams that play a similar style; it\u2019s just a matter of the talent coming through at the right time and them all buying in. The groups over the past few years have really bought into everything we preach in our program, and it comes through on the court most of the time,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n

Tourney namesake BP Vito Fossella also offered remarks, saying that \u201cthe tournament has gotten better every year. It seems like the kids are having a great time, it\u2019s competitive, and they\u2019re learning about sportsmanship and making new friends. For years they didn\u2019t have this opportunity, so I just want to publicly thank the committee again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"St.The St. Joseph by-the-Sea girls’ varsity basketball team poses with their championship trophy after their Borough President’s Cup win on Jan. 31, 2026.Michael O’Brien<\/p>\n

Currently sitting in sixth place with an 3-3 league record in the CHSAA AAA, the league\u2019s highest level of competition, the Vikings should be set to carry the momentum from their dominant tournament run into the rest of the season.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

NOTES: At the conclusion of the game, the tournament committee also announced the All-Tournament team in addition to DiMonda\u2019s MVP win, which included Sea\u2019s Giovanna Grima, Moore\u2019s Allie and Mackenzie Felci, Tottenville\u2019s Grace Anderson, Susan Wagner\u2019s Casey McKinney, Curtis\u2019 Kathryn Karounos, Hill\u2019s Brielle Longo, and Staten Island Academy\u2019s Alyssa Lopez.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 Winning a tournament championship game to complete a three-peat is impressive on its own, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-118795","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}