St. Mary's advances to CHSAA final
The Gatorade dump happened a little less than three minutes into the second quarter during St. Mary's 61-39 win over St. Anthony's Sunday in the CHSAA boys basketball semifinal at C.W. Post.
Well, the Gatorade was actually Powerade and it wasn't so much a dump as it was the result of St. Mary's Wilson Molina careening feet-first into the drink cart in a scramble to the basket, but the sentiment, at least, was accurate.
St. Mary's led 15-4 at that time and was the beneficiary of a 10:03 St. Anthony's scoring drought in the first half, but this was St. Mary's championship berth to lose.
No. 4 St. Anthony's pulled within four points early in the third quarter but got no closer.
Top seed St. Mary's will play No. 3 Chaminade Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Hofstra in the finals.
"I can't wait till Hofstra, man," said Dante Agnew, who finished with 14 points, nine assists and four steals. "I love it."
St. Mary's used an 8-0 run to end the first quarter on its way to a 23-16 halftime lead.
Danny Pierrot scored on a fadeaway jumper with 5:53 left in the first quarter but the Friars did not score again until James McKenna's three-pointer from the left wing with 3:50 to go in the first half.
"There was like a lid on the basket in the first half," said St. Mary's coach Bill Harkins, noting that even his team, which generally scores 35 to 40 points by the break, struggled to produce.
St. Anthony's (10-14) finally found the mark in the waning minutes of the second quarter, as McKenna's three-point play with 1:33 left started an 8-0 run. The Friars pulled to within 23-19 with 7:22 left in the third quarter but didn't threaten after that.
Despite a season marked by dominance from St. Mary's, Chavaughn Lewis was not surprised that the Friars were making a game of it late in the second quarter and in the early stages of the third.
"They had nothing to lose," said Lewis, who had 16 points, 11 rebounds and four steals. "We expect to not always be perfect . . . we keep our composure . . . we've been battle-tested the whole season."
In short, St. Mary's reacted like St. Mary's: scoring the next four points on a Lewis layup off a steal and Agnew's midrange jumper. The baskets ignited a 9-2 run and the Gaels started to pull away after that.
Charles McCann led St. Mary's with 18 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks.
McKenna had 16 points for St. Anthony's.
"We took our time running our offense and picked up our defense," Agnew said, adding that they never took St. Anthony's for granted.
It was a thought echoed by Harkins, who said that despite his team's 25-0 overall record, "we're 1-0 in the playoffs.
"That's our reaction," he said. "It's a special group. They're mentally tough . . . they don't think about ."
Even when the Gator . . . er . . . Powerade goes flying.