{"id":62630,"date":"2025-12-06T12:35:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T12:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62630\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T12:35:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T12:35:27","slug":"staten-island-hs-boys-hoops-cardiac-kid-nick-lee-shines-again-late-as-sea-downs-st-peters-43-38-photos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/62630\/","title":{"rendered":"Staten Island HS boys\u2019 hoops: Cardiac kid Nick Lee shines again late as Sea downs St. Peter\u2019s, 43-38 (photos)"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 St. Joseph by-the-Sea built a lead midway through the first quarter and, on several occasions, it threatened to pull away from St. Peter\u2019s.<\/p>\n

But each time, the Eagles found a way to creep back in. When the New Brighton school got within a point for the third time early in the fourth quarter, you got the sense it might be the charm.<\/p>\n

But Sea\u2019s Nick Lee, who\u2019s making a habit of performing during crunch time, had other plans.<\/p>\n

The junior guard buried back-to-back shots within a 43-second span \u2014 including a big trey \u2014 during crunch time and the host Vikings held on for a 43-38 CHSAA Staten Island triumph over the Eagles Friday in front of a SRO crowd in Huguenot.<\/p>\n

\"BigSt. Joseph by-the-Sea’s Nick Lee (21) helped the Vikings stave off St. Peter’s with back-to-back buckets midway through the fourth quarter of a CHSAA Staten Island game on Dec. 5, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n

Sea, which received an instant jolt when reserve Joey Moran (10 points, seven rebounds) checked in midway through the opening period, improved to 3-1 overall with each of its three triumphs coming against the Island\u2019s other CHSAA teams.<\/p>\n

In addition to Lee (eight points), Nick Rebracca (team-high 11 points), John Paturzo (seven points, five rebounds, solid floor game), Luca Mineo (seven points) and Jack Boyle (game-high eight rebounds) also turned in strong performances for the Vikings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really proud of the maturity of this young group we have early on,\u2019’ said Sea head coach Mike Cortese, who previously defeated Monsignor Farrell and Moore Catholic. \u201dWe\u2019ve been going from big game to big game, yet focusing in practice every day, locking into film sessions and the weight room. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just doing a good job locking into the steps needed in order to win the next game. Everything you\u2019ve been seeing is a result of great preparation from our coaches to the players,\u2019’ the coach added. <\/p>\n

The Vikings switched defenses for the majority of the game, but primarily played a 2-3 halfcourt zone that bottled up the Eagles for three quarters. St. Peter\u2019s, in fact, committed 22 turnovers and Sea carried a 28-23 lead into the final eight minutes.<\/p>\n

\"YouthfulSt. Peter’s sophomore Tyler Schoenberg (22), seen above putting up a shot between St. Joseph by-the-Sea’s Joey Moran (13) and John Paturzo (3), finished with a game-high 14 points during Friday’s CHSAA Staten Island game in Huguenot.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe program has become really good at using our rotations,\u2019’ said Cortese. \u201dWe adjusted well depending on personnel. We knew who to get out to and who to match up against when they did an overload. We wanted to control the pace and not let them get comfortable.\u2019’<\/p>\n

The Eagles (1-1 overall, 0-1 CHSAASI) opened the final period intent on feeding 6-foot-5 center Tyler Schoenberg (game-high 14 points) and the sophomore connected on 3 of 4 freebies before Paturzo responded with a bucket off an inbounds play.<\/p>\n

However, when SP\u2019s Victor Baez canned a left-wing three with 6:16 left, Sea\u2019s lead had again whittled to one (30-29) and Cortese signaled for time.<\/p>\n

When the Vikings emerged from the time out, point guard Lee scored on a drive, then buried a left-wing three of his own to make it 35-29 with 4:41 on the clock.<\/p>\n

\"LookingSt. Joseph by-the-Sea junior Nick Rebracca (2) looks for an open teammate while being defended by St. Peter’s sophomore Noah Scott (20) during Friday’s CHSAA Staten Island game.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the game gets close, I want the ball. I\u2019m confident with it, I\u2019m confident in my teammates and believe we can get it done,\u2019’ said Lee, who scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter during a come-from-behind win over Moore Wednesday. \u201dI trust myself and everyone around me, including the coaches. We just needed to stick together (during crunch time).\u2019’<\/p>\n

The Eagles again came knocking when Baez and Schoenberg hit back-to-back baskets to make it 35-33 with 2:51 left, but Lee came through in another way on the ensuing possession. He and a St. Peter\u2019s defender battled for a loose ball when it deflected past midcourt. The junior retrieved it and rushed back up court before it wound up in Moran\u2019s hands at the top of the key. The ever-hustling forward drove the lane and scored to increase the lead to 37-33 with 2:22 left.<\/p>\n

From the time he first entered the game with 4:52 left in the first quarter, Moran time and again provided his team a jolt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just looking to give my team a spark. I love hyping up my teammates whether it\u2019s hustling or getting on the floor. I think it makes us so much better and it\u2019s a privilege to play on this team,\u2019’ said Moran, who missed the Moore game because of sickness. \u201cI never give up. If you just box out and keep going for the ball, chances are you\u2019re going to come down with it.\u2019’<\/p>\n

\"LooseSt. Peter’s Noah Scott, right, and St. Joseph by-the-Sea’s Nick Rebracca attempt to chase down a loose ball during a CHSAA Staten Island game on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n

One possession later, Mineo received a kick out from Paturzo before nailing a back-breaking trey to up the lead to seven with 1:53 left.<\/p>\n

\u201cBig-shot Luca,\u2019’ said Cortese with a smile. \u201dIt\u2019s really not a secret anymore. We\u2019re comfortable with him out there, getting him in the right spots and he hit a big shot.\u2019’<\/p>\n

Rebracca and Lee teamed for three free throws in the final 36.8 seconds to help provide the final score.<\/p>\n

NOTES: A 14-4 Sea run, led by Moran (five points), that bridged the first two quarters helped it build an 18-10 lead midway through the second quarter. However, SP sophomore Ryan Christie came off the bench and sank back-to-back threes late in the first half to cut Vikings\u2019 halftime lead to 19-18 … The Vikings did a solid job protecting the ball as they committed just nine turnovers, including two in the final quarter … St. Peter\u2019s won the battle of the board, 31-30, behind Ryan Freeman (six), Schoenberg (five) and Nico Parlanti (five). Parlanti was SP\u2019s next highest scorer with seven points … Both teams shot well from the charity stripe: The Eagles canned 7 of 9 attempts (Schoenberg 6 for 7); the Vikings hit 7 of 10 (Moran 4 for 6).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 St. Joseph by-the-Sea built a lead midway through the first quarter and, on several…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-62630","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\/62630","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=62630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}