St. Joseph's of Essex County CYO Games Recap

The 2nd grade St. Joseph’s Celtics Rookie team made their debut on their home floor on Sunday, taking on St. Agnes in their third game of the season. And the Celtics did not disappoint.

Those in attendance were thrilled with several highlight reel plays including a buzzer-beater jump shot from Jerry Browne at the end of the first quarter, a dazzling assist and finish on a fast break by Kieran Dawkins and Thomas Campbell and an acrobatic drive and score from Flynn Larson.

Katie Callahan led the Celtics with 5 rebounds, highlighting her aggressive play from a guard spot. Forwards Harrison Zabik and Luke Davenport patrolled the baseline for the Celtics, preventing the opponent from getting good looks at the basket and also narrowly missing several scoring chances on the offensive end.

The St. Joseph’s Pee Wee 3rd grade Blue team lost to a consistently strong St. Helen’s team 20-9.

John Pirone and Henry Aaron provided the scoring with 6 and 3 points respectively. Pirone and Declan Cavanaugh each had a strong performance under the boards with three rebounds each. Lukas Alexander and Aaron led the team in steals with three a piece, and Ian Webber, Pirone, DeVomecourt and Liam Haley each had one.

The St. Joseph Celtics 4th Grade Green boys team split a pair of thrilling nail biters over this past weekend.

On Saturday, the Celtics built a seemingly insurmountable 9-2 lead early in the second half against St. Helen’s of Westfield. The Celtics were powered by stellar ball distribution from guards Patrick Campbell, Liam Laskowski and Nicholas Franklin.

Mike Pirone, who contributed two points, Owen Holt and Nicholas Alexander patrolled the paint and anchored the Celtics aggressive man-to-man defense. However, St. Helen’s put together an impressive 8-0 run to take the lead late in the 4th quarter.

Danny Guarnieri shook off an early injury and drew a key foul late in the game and Brendan Dawkins, who led all scorers with 8 points, calmly sank a bucket with less than a minute remaining to power the Celtics to an 11-10 victory.

The Celtics returned to action against another St. Helen’s team on Sunday and battled in a tight contest for 32 minutes.

Max Larson turned in his best performance of the season, filling in at center and grabbing six rebounds. A clutch fast-break basket in the final minutes by Mike Pirone and a free throw from Brendan Dawkins brought the Celtics to within a point.

Key late steals by Liam Laskowski, Nicholas Alexander and Patrick Campbell gave the Celtics several opportunities to tie or take the lead, but strong defense from St. Helen’s prevented the Celtics from sweeping the weekend’s contests.

Owen Holt contributed 5 rebounds and Derek Mingmongkol demonstrated his versatility filling in at guard, forward and center.

The St. Joseph’s 4th grade boys White team got its first victory of the season with a 23-18 win over St. Helens of Westfield.

Jeremiah Cook, Declan O’Conner and Charlie Giannone were tremendous on the boards. Connor Ward led the team with 14 points, while Malachy Meyer made 3 of 4 foul shots in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

St. Helen’s defeated St. Joseph’s 3-4 Grade Pee Wee Girls on Sunday 11-8.

St Joseph’s came out fast with a score by Evelyn Calabrese and Leah Connell and Neve McGowan pounded the offensive boards looking for easy scoring opportunities. To start the second half St. Joseph’s turned the ball over giving St. Helen’s multiple opportunities to score, but only gave up 6 points. Zhara Alexander closed the gap in the fourth quarter by completing a 3-point play, leading the game to its final score of 11-8.

St. Joseph JV 5th grade Boys came up short, losing 12-9 to St. James of Springfield on Sunday.

St. James set the tone early, racing out to an 8-4 halftime lead by hitting a number of outside shots against the St. Joseph zone-defense. St. Joseph’s stepped up its effort on the defensive end of the floor and went on a 5-2 run to cut the lead to a point.

Following several possessions where neither team scored, St. James managed to get a timely basket with 30 seconds left to put the game out of reach. Damian Cataneo and Buchi Amobi controlled the backboards for St. Joe’s, limiting St. James to one shot throughout the second half. Kye Haniph kept St. Joseph within striking distance with a number of steals leading to extra possessions and fast-break opportunities.

The JV 5th and 6th grade Girls beat All Saints of Bayonne 8-7.

Annibell Callahan, Kate Meyer, Sophia Noll and Mollie Gray each had 2 points. The girls played strong defense to hold All Saints for the win. JV Girls are now 4-2 on the season.

The Saint Joseph JV 6th grade boys dismantled St.Theresa of Kenilworth 31-12.

Derrick Baptiste led Saint Joe’s with 10 points, while Perry Reyes and Ben Sczepanski each dropped in 8 point. Anthony Fuschetto and James Griffis contributed tough defense and rebounding in the win.

The 6th grade boys then traveled to Bayonne on Sunday and faced a tough All Saints team and lost 36-18.

Perry Reyes was hot from the perimeter sinking two three-pointers, finishing with 8 points. Derrick Baptiste, Patrick Dawkins, Matt Morales and Nicholas Aaron all finished with at least four boards.

The St. Joseph’s Varsity 8th Grade boys team had a great weekend with two wins, defeating St. John’s 40-29, followed by a 51-33 victory over St. James.

Liam Kagel and Spencer Melee each dropped in 21 points over the two games. Liam O’Neill added 18 points, while James Bristol and Justin Cook contributed 14 and 12 points respectively.

The St. Joseph’s Varsity Girls lost a tough match-up against an undefeated St. James of Springfield by a final score of 23-12.

The Celtics came out strong in the first half holding the lead midway through the second quarter with baskets by Abbie Garaban, Abbie Valente, Merry Meyer and Sarah Johnson. The Celtics press defense in the second half caused several turnovers. The Varsity girls now have a 3-3 record for the season.

(Information courtesy of St. Joseph’s CYO Basketball)