St. Andrews Avellino eighth-grade boys’ basketball team defeated Our Lady of Snows this past Sunday to clinch the regular season title in the CYO North Division.
St. Andrews, rebounding from only two wins in the seventh grade, went undefeated in the division due to the teamwork and hustle of its 10 players. St. Mels, St Gregorys and OLBS also had outstanding seasons, with many exciting competitive games.
In the Snows game, St Andrews jumped out to a 13-4 first-quarter lead, but Snows rebounded in the second quarter to take a 24-21 halftime lead. St. Andrews, led by Jonathan Costa with 21 points, made a tenacious second-half comeback and won, 43-34. Anthony Mangione scored 12 points and Brian Brabazon added 5 points for St. Andrews.
In its previous game, St. Andrews defeated St. Mels 48-47 in a thrilling contest of the league’s two leading teams. Mangione led St. Andrews with 19 points, including hitting the game-winning free throw with 20 seconds left. Costa scored 12 points for St. Andrews and Sal Musso had 9 points.
Brabazon again contributed 5 points to the wining effort and Patrick Jablonski scored a big basket in the last minute of the game. Also contributing to the winning season were Joe May, Fabio Echaverra, Brabazon, Anthony Prainito and Desmond Santos. The team was coached by Phil McBride, who was assisted by Kareem Salley.
