STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Monsignor Farrell had seen the movie before.<\/p>\n
Close game. Fourth quarter. Crunch time.<\/p>\n
Except this time, the Lions were hellbent on changing the ending. Junior Michael Abreu, as it turned out, was more than happy to take the lead role.<\/p>\n
The two-year varsity player scored 11 of his game-high 20 points in a variety of ways during the final eight minutes as Farrell hung on for a 52-47 CHSAA Staten Island victory over host St. Peter\u2019s Friday in New Brighton.<\/p>\n
The Lions, who received strong games from Matt Scalisi (11 points, solid floor game), JJ Yates (11 points) and Jack Gomez, earned their first win in five tries this season (1-1 CHSAASI). But, perhaps most importantly, Farrell gave first-year head coach Danny Fisher his first win in front of an SRO crowd.<\/p>\n
![\"Celebration](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/2MXGN7BVYFEW3LIGCJAUV3EFCU.jpg\")
Monsignor Farrell head coach Danny Fisher, center, back turned, gets a hug from assistant coach Devin Dunn and the rest of the Lions’ bench after earning his first varsity victory after defeating St. Peter’s, 52-47, on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came into the locker room, the kids were excited for themselves and they said, \u2018coach, congratulations on your first win\u2019,\u2019’ said Fisher, a long-time fixture in Farrell\u2019s program who took over for Mike Dunn this season. \u201dI said, \u2018no. It\u2019s our first win.\u2019 Because that\u2019s what we\u2019re about \u2014 the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo win, at St. Peter\u2019s, it\u2019s special because of who they are and their tradition. (SP head coach Ryan) Woods is phenomenal. \u201cBeing coach Dunn\u2019s assistant and freshman coach for 10 years and coaching against (former St. Peter\u2019s freshman coach) Denis Driscoll all those years and against (former SP varsity coach Charlie Driscoll) \u2014 they always made us better. And I think they\u2019d say the same thing about us. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish it wasn\u2019t this late,\u2019’ he said with a laugh, \u201dbut I\u2019m proud of our guys.\u2019’<\/p>\n
Truth is, although the Lions entered Friday\u2019s game without a win, they very well could have won each of their first four contests, but lost them during nip-and-tuck fourth quarters.<\/p>\n
Abreu, who saw a significant amount of time a sophomore a year ago, believes playing in competitive games made a difference against the Eagles.<\/p>\n
![\"Battle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SYGWQUYOT5BK7FAHKCJUK7NHTA.jpg\")
Monsignor Farrell ‘s Ryan Hanley, left, and St. Peter’s Tyler Schoenberg jostle for position during A CHSAA Staten Island division game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think those first four games helped us a lot,\u2019’ said the junior. \u201dThose were all close games and nobody felt we were an 0-4 team. Just playing in those close games 100% helped us and now we showed we know how to win.\u2019’<\/p>\n
The 1-2 Eagles (0-2 CHSAASI), who were led by senior Nico Parlanti (17 points), followed an Abreu interior bucket with baskets from Noah Scott and Parlanti to forge a 35-35 tie with just under 6:00 left in the game.<\/p>\n
But the Lions took centerstage shortly after beginning with Abreu burying a right-corner trey off a pretty Scalisi feed with 5:27 left. Gomez then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and put it in and a short time later, Abreu\u2019s steal and fast-break layup gave Farrell a 42-35 lead and had Woods signaling for time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just play. I\u2019m kind of used to (the fanfare of playing against St. Peter\u2019s) and in big games my whole life,\u2019’ said Abreu. \u201dI don\u2019t know how to explain it. <\/p>\n
![\"Looking](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/62FK4P2QXVA5BG2Y7537PEX6OE.jpg\")
Monsignor Farrell’s Jack Gomez, center, is guarded by St. Peter’s Dennis Corson while he searches for an open teammate during Friday’s CHSAA Staten Island division game in New Brighton.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n
\u201cIt felt good to come through. My teammates kept setting me up. If it wasn\u2019t for them, I wouldn\u2019t be scoring.\u2019’<\/p>\n
\u201cI referred to (Abreu) as a jack-of-all-trades and a coach\u2019s dream in the season preview \u2014 that kid plays hard every minute of every game. He\u2019s locked in during every practice and he just does everything right,\u2019’ praised Fisher. \u201cHe puts himself in the right position to score. We don\u2019t run a lot of stuff for him, but he gets everything off of making the right plays.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe makes the most of his opportunities.\u2019’<\/p>\n
Farrell center Ryan Hanley, however, drained a pair of free throws out of the timeout to give the visitors a game-high nine-point lead (44-35) with 3:57 to go.<\/p>\n
St. Peter\u2019s, however, wouldn\u2019t go quietly. The host team staged a 12-5 run behind Parlanti and sophomore center Tyler Schoenberg in a 2:38 span to stay within striking distance. When Parlanti buried a pair of free throws with 1:09 on the clock, Farrell\u2019s lead was down to 49-47.<\/p>\n
The Eagles had a chance to tie it inside the final minute and got several shots, but Farrell got a stop after Hanley grabbed the defensive board and was fouled. Following a timeout, Gomez took out the ball to the right of the basket and rifled a diagonal pass over the top of SP\u2019s full-court pressure. A streaking Abreu caught up to it on the other side of halfcourt and went to the basket for a layup that upped Farrell\u2019s lead to 51-47 with 30 ticks left.<\/p>\n
![\"Avoiding](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/CRKMIJPKKNE4NO5KYXV2ROHVM4.jpg\")
Monsignor Farrell guard JJ Yates (5) looks to dribble away from St. Peter’s Victor Baez, right, and Tyler Schoenberg while teammate Ryan Hanley looks on during a CHSAA Staten Island game on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025.(Advance\/SILive.com | Annie De Biase)<\/p>\n
\u201c(Gomez and Abreu) made a really good read,\u2019’ said Fisher. \u201dThat wasn\u2019t our look, but the way Peter\u2019s adjusted to where our guys were moving \u2014 Jack kind of saw it and made a really good play.\u2019’<\/p>\n
Gomez, meanwhile, connected on 1 of 2 freebies a short time later to solidify Farrell\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really wanted it for (coach Fisher). It\u2019s his first win and a lot more coming,\u2019’ Abreu said with a smile. \u201dIt\u2019s important to us. I love coach Fisher and it means a lot to be a part of his first win.\u2019’<\/p>\n
NOTES: When St. Peter\u2019s opened the second quarter with a 10-2 Parlanti-led run, it owned a 22-15 lead with 3:30 left in the half. Farrell, however, rode the play of Scalisi (two baskets, assist) to a 9-4 half-ending run that trimmed SP\u2019s lead to 26-24 at intermission … Farrell committed just nine turnovers, SP 11 … The Lions owned a 17-4 advantage in free-throw attempts and connected on 13 of them, including a 6-for-7 performance from Yates … Victor Baez and Scott finished with 10 points apiece and Schoenberg added eight for the Eagles … Abreu finished with three treys while Parlanti, Baez and Scott had two apiece … Gomez took the lone charge of the game … The teams will meet again in Oakwood on Jan. 9 … The Eagles played just three games since opening the season on Thanksgiving Eve, but beginning with Friday\u2019s game against the Lions, they play every other day through Dec. 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Monsignor Farrell had seen the movie before. Close game. Fourth quarter. Crunch time. Except…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-69700","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\/69700","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=69700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}