Glendale Bantam Boys Basketball Team Wins Crown
Sacred Heart’s Bantam Boys team won the St. Thomas the Apostle tournament by defeating St. Rose of Lima in the championship game by a score of 49-30.
The Glendale squad advanced to the title game by defeating St. Adalbert’s in the semi-finals 47-26.
Prior to the tournament, Sacred Heart suffered a heart breaking loss to St. Adalbert’s in the playoffs. After squandering an early 15-point lead, the score changed hands several times, resulting in a triple overtime loss.
Leading the way for Sacred Heart in the rematch was the three-point shooting of Joe Fragola, who tallied 20 points in the final two games. Controlling the boards, while also pouring in 24 and 22 points respectively, was the center tandem of Brandon Tatis and Charlie Giacomarra. Distributing the ball and also scoring 14 points was Christopher Tracy. Andrew Fox (four points), and Michael Smith, also contributed ball movement with some tough rebounds.
These games came down to defense, as coach Gary Tracy elected to play a box and one on St. Adalbert’s star Marc Villa. This means while the rest of the team played a zone defense, Joe Pullara (four points) and Matthew Autz (eight points) had the difficult task of shadowing Villa all over the court as well as the clutch shooter for St. Rose of Lima.
Their clutch defense enabled Sacred Heart to have fast breaks which led to baskets and free throws. Sacred Heart shot 20-30 from the free throw line to seal both victories.
