{"id":141522,"date":"2026-02-22T04:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T04:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141522\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T04:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T04:07:11","slug":"st-joseph-by-the-sea-falls-short-vs-monsignor-scanlan-in-chsaa-aaa-archdiocesan-championship-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141522\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Joseph by-the-Sea falls short vs. Monsignor Scanlan in CHSAA AAA Archdiocesan Championship (photos)"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 After enduring two tough losses to Monsignor Scanlan during the regular season, St. Joseph by-the-Sea couldn\u2019t make the third time the charm against one of the city\u2019s most talented teams, falling 65-35 in Saturday night\u2019s CHSAA AAA Archdiocesan Championship game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just a phenomenal team\u2014so deep. In past years, we were able to neutralize one or two of their stars and get a chance to compete. But when you take one away now, there are so many others who can hurt you,” Sea head coach Josh Suslak said after the contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what we did, we couldn\u2019t beat them in three tries. We tried different approaches each time, but the result was the same. As a coach, you feel that they\u2019re simply a better basketball team, top to bottom, on an individual level.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1\/39<\/p>\n

CHSAA AAA Division Championship Game between St. Joseph By the Sea and Monsignor Scanlan, at College of Staten Island, Willowbrook, on Saturday Feb. 21, 2026. Scanlon wins 65-35. (Kara Buzga for Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

The strength in Scanlan\u2019s game came thanks to a suffocating defense that left Sea with just three points in the first quarter and 12 at halftime to put them firmly on the path to victory.<\/p>\n

Despite a grim outlook at the break, Sea played hard to the final buzzer and improved in the second half, with two Vikings\u2014Olivia DiMonda (10) and Maria O\u2019Connell (10)\u2014finishing in double figures.<\/p>\n

Suslak gave his seniors props for their efforts, saying that \u201cthey\u2019re captains; they know their careers are winding down here at St. Joe\u2019s, and although they\u2019re going to play at the next level in college, I think they understand how special, playing for this and program, is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve obviously meant a lot to us; their legacy is etched in what we\u2019ve done, and they just want to end it as best they can. So, I\u2019m proud of them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He also said his team never taking a possession off despite the tough scoreline is a testament to the team culture the Vikings have built.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s expected. They understand that; I think they\u2019d be a problem if they didn\u2019t play that way. Win or lose, you\u2019ve got to play with a lot of heart. And I think, for the most part, they did that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Despite the defeat, one bright spot for Suslak\u2019s crew is that they\u2019ll remain alive in AAA Intersectional play this coming week, with a matchup against either Nazareth or Xaverian\u2014two teams they\u2019ve already beaten this year\u2014looming.<\/p>\n

\"CHSAACHSAA AAA Division Championship Game between St. Joseph By the Sea and Monsignor Scanlan, at College of Staten Island, Willowbrook, on Saturday Feb. 21, 2026. Scanlon wins 65-35. (Kara Buzga for Advance\/SILive.com).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a different opponent whoever we play on Wednesday, so the game plan could be a bit different. Maybe we got away from who we really are, trying to do different things to counteract Scanlan, and you kind of lose before the ball even tips off when you do that,\u201d Suslak said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t do this often, but after playing them last week and sticking to our style without success, I felt we needed to try something else. They\u2019re just a better basketball team. Going forward, we\u2019ll see what the matchups look like. We\u2019ve faced Nazareth and Xaverian one-on-one before, so it looks like we\u2019ll play one of them, and we\u2019ll just play our style and our game,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.\u2014 After enduring two tough losses to Monsignor Scanlan during the regular season, St. Joseph by-the-Sea…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-141522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141522","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=141522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}