By Five Boro Sports
When he wasn’t hustling back on defense, Joe Monahan was rushing into the locker room to throw up. The senior guard is the latest victim of a flu bug that has made its way through the Holy Cross boys’ basketball team.
Fellow starter Sharif Mair is also afflicted, as is Bryant Fidele and two reserves who couldn’t even make it to William J. O’Meara Gym for the rescheduled CHSAA Class AA league game against All Hallows Feb. 4.
Fortunately for the Knights, Eric Klingsberg has somehow avoided illness. The senior guard scored a game-high 22 points to help lift the Knights to a 59-38 victory over the visiting Gaels.
“During halftime, the coaches told me to step it up because Sharif has the flu and Joe was throwing up at halftime,” Klingsberg said. “Those are key guys for us, so I had to step it up.”
And Klingsberg, who leads the Knights in scoring, averaging 18.8 points per game, did it without knocking down a three-pointer in a game for the first time this season.
“I wanted him to do more than just stand in the corner and wait,” Gilvary said. “I wanted him to see if he could get in the lane a bit and he made a couple nice shots and when they came to him, he made a couple of nice passes, as well.”
Marcus Hopper is already back to full health and the 6-foot-8 sophomore center exploited his size advantage, scoring a career-high 14 points and grabbing nine boards in yet another solid performance in the post.
“Nobody on [All Hallows] was my height, I was the tallest person in the game so I felt I had the advantage to score,” Hopper said. “I took the opportunity and I did it.”
Monahan, meanwhile, was limited to just four points, eight below his season average. But Gilvary wasn’t concerned about his offensive production.
“We needed the healthy guys to score,” Gilvary said. “The sick guys could play defense.”
Gilvary’s biggest concern was making sure none of his starters fouled out because of an extremely short bench. Mair and Hopper each picked up four fouls, but both managed to stay in the game.
Hopper scored 10 of his 14 points in the first half, helping stake Holy Cross (9-10, 3-5) to a 24-15 halftime lead.
Klingsberg took over in the second half, scoring 14 of his 22 points after the break, insuring that the closest All Hallows (5-10, 3-6) got was eight early in the third quarter. Sophomore Evan Conti also came up big with nine points, eight rebounds and five assists off the bench.
“I appreciated the effort today,” Gilvary said. “I don’t think we played great by any stretch of the imagination, but they played very hard.”
Led by Mike Alvarado, who scored 14 points, the Gaels trailed 37-24 after three quarters and never truly threatened in a lackluster performance.
All Hallows returns home to face Xaverian Friday night, while the Knights host rival St. Francis Prep as the Battle of the Boulevard shifts to Holy Cross. In the first meeting of the season, Holy Cross defeated the Terriers 60-51 in front of a capacity crowd of 1,500 at St. Francis Prep on Jan. 16.
“Hopefully, everybody’s healthy for Friday,” Klingsberg said. “It’s going to be a big game, everyone’s excited with Prep coming here. It should be fun. We just want to keep the fans happy and get another win against Prep.”
