The following article was contributed by a team parent.
St. Joseph’s Celtics basketball teams show continued improvement in the fourth week of the Union County CYO Basketball season.
St. Joseph’s Seventh-Grade Varsity Boys team got an early Christmas present with a weekend sweep of games against St. Teresa’s of Summit and Our Lady of Peace from New Providence. On Saturday night, the Celtics used their speed and quickness to overcome a nine-point halftime deficit to win 35-34. Peter Byrne, Colin Williams, Noah Haniph and Ty Anthony Cross used their quick hands to challenge St. Teresa’s ballhandlers, turning their steals into fast-break points.
Williams scored seven points while his brother Andrew controlled the defensive boards. Kene Amobi, with seven rebounds, and Colin O’Mara locked down the middle of the defense in the second half, and O’Mara dominated the low post on offense, scoring twelve points off passes from Byrne and Cross. Byrne scored fourteen points, including the clutch foul shot that gave the Celtics the lead with :03 on the clock.
Tyler Craig on the opening tip off of the St. Joseph Celtics Third-Grade boys game against St. Agnes
Sunday’s game was another nailbiter, with the Celtics earning a hard-fought 29-23 overtime victory against a taller OLP squad. Byrne and Luke Chmiel pushed the pace, overcoming the full-court OLP press dedicated to slowing down the speedy St. Joe’s guards. Sam Fleetwood controlled the boards in the second half, corralling eight rebounds and blocking two shots. Kyle Gonyea nabbed six rebounds and kept the offense moving with a variety of nifty passes from the high post. Haniph once again locked down the OLP offense with his stifling defense. Chmiel chipped in with four points and four steals and O’Mara added a clutch fourth-quarter bucket and tough defense against OLP’s big men. Chmiel tied the game with 30 seconds left in regulation and the Celtics tightened up their defense to send the game to OT. Byrne, who scored 23 points on a variety of three-point shots and acrobatic drives to the basket, controlled OT, scoring all six Celtics points. The Celtics next play on January 4.
St. Joseph’s Sixth-Grade Boys team lost to St. John’s 49-33 on Sunday. Despite a well-played first half and strong fourth quarter, a tough third-quarter scoring draught was too much to overcome for the Celtics. Guards, Patrick Dawkins and Perry Reyes led the Celtics in scoring with eight points each and were closely followed by Derrick Baptiste and Ben Szcepanski with seven points each. Matt Morales and Cole Latimer also scored. Harry Fardin, Nicholas Aaron and James Griffis played tough defense throughout, while Anthony Fuschetto, Devin Brown and Gunner Craig contributed with solid rebounding.
St. Joseph’s Varsity Girls team won a tight game on the road in New Providence against Our Lady of Peace, 26-25. The Celtics got off to an early lead with baskets by Abby Garaban, Zoe Gil, Sarah Johnson and Merry Meyer. But they fell behind in the third quarter and had to come from behind for the win. Erin Lackey and Cece Clarke led the defensive effort in the second half, holding New Providence scoreless in the final minute. The Celtics record is 3-1 for the season.
St. Joseph’s Pee Wee Boys Blue Meola team lost to a perennially tough St. Agnes team 12-5. Declan Cavanaugh and John Pirone each had a bucket in the loss, and Matthew Corr contributed a free throw. Leading the team’s best game under the boards were Henry Aaron and Cavanaugh. They each had a team high six rebounds, and the rest of the team combined for a total of fifteen. Cian O’Connor and Lukas Alexander were strong at point and demonstrated great ball handling skills. Ian Webber, Liam Haley and Cade Minerley were relentless on defense and caused multiple turnovers while Aaron and Corr each had a steal.
St. Joseph’s Fourth-Grade Green team won two exciting contests over the weekend, beating two separate teams from St. Helen’s of Westfield in a CYO League game and in a Christmas Tournament Game. On Saturday, the Celtics prevailed 18-10 powered by a balanced scoring effort that saw six players notch points in the scoring column. Patrick Campbell, Liam Laskowski, Nicholas Alexander and Derek Mingmongkol were among the Celtics scorers. Nicholas Franklin contributed several steals and Owen Holt had a nifty assist to aid the Celtics.
On Sunday, in a Christmas Tournament game, the Celtics 18-11 victory was aided by contributions from two younger siblings, John Pirone and Jake Laskowski who more than held their own in the game and contributed points, rebounds and assists. Max Larson played strong defense and was solid handling the basketball under pressure. Brendan Dawkins, who averaged six points per game over the weekend, keyed a crucial 12-2 run that proved decisive with deft ball handling and pure shooting. Michael Pirone took home game MVP honors as he scored six points and was a monster on defense and the glass.
St. Joseph Second-Grade team made their season debut on Sunday against Holy Trinity in Westfield. The Celtics dazzled in their first opportunity to showcase their developing skills in a game setting. Although the second grade league is instructional and focuses on fundamental skill development without score keeping, five Celtics scored on an array of fast break layups, jump shots and strong foul shooting.
Kieran Dawkins and Luke Davenport led the Celtics’ scoring, and Flynn Larson and Adam Marek also contributed to the well-rounded scoring effort. Thomas Campbell’s skillfull ball handling directly led to several scoring opportunities and Fiona McGowan, Jerry Browne and Timothy Van de North played strong defense and controlled the backboards. Harrison Zabik, Will Walsh, Katie Callahan and Alex Szczepanski demonstrated excellent ball movement and court vision to aid the Celtics in their first game.
St. Joseph’s CYO is a shared parish ministry for the Catholic parishioners of Our Lady of Sorrows in South Orange and South Joseph’s in Maplewood. St. Joseph’s has 15 teams for girls and boys in Grades 2 – 12.
