St. Joseph's of Essex County CYO Wins Christmas Tournament

St. Joseph’s Celtics fourth grade green team continued their run of impressive play and took home the title in St. Helen’s Annual Christmas Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 27.

The Celtics are on a four-game winning streak, including their final three games of the Christmas Tournament.

In the Championship game against St. Helen’s of Westfield, the Celtics played outstanding defense in a back and forth battle, holding the home team to only 8 points for the game. The Celtics victory came without three key contributors, Nicholas Alexander, Patrick Campbell and Derek Mingmongkol, who had each played excellently in the earlier rounds of the tournament.

The teams played evenly in the first half with the Celtics holding a 4-3 lead powered by baskets from Brendan Dawkins and Liam Laskowski, who drained a clutch jumper in the second quarter. Owen Holt’s lockdown defense on St. Helen’s top scorer kept the game close while Nicholas Franklin secured a key rebound to halt a scoring opportunity right before the half.

In the second half, St. Helen’s stormed out of the break on a 5-0 run to take an 8-4 lead. Max Larson helped stem the tide for the Celtics drawing a key foul on a drive to the basket. Danny Guarnieri and Jake Laskowski teamed up to play excellent defense and to keep the ball moving and John Pirone controlled the paint on defense and narrowly missed on several great scoring chances.

The Celtics finished the game on a 7-0 scoring run to take the title by a score of 11-8.

Mike Pirone had all seven of the Celtics points in the run on three buckets and a free throw. His three baskets were assisted by Brendan Dawkins who found Pirone on a gorgeous pick and roll, ahead of the field on a fast break and also in the lane on a nice drive and dish play.

The Celtics withstood a final push from St. Helen’s who used full-court pressure to try to force turnovers and scoring chances, but calm ball handling by the Celtics, including Jake and Liam Laskowski, helped them hold off the home team and secure the victory.

St. Joseph’s Celtics Junior Varsity fifth grade boy’s team won its first game of the season on Sunday, knocking off St. James of Springfield 21-19.

The Celtics overcame a seven-point second-half deficit, thanks to some clutch free throw shooting by Niko Reyes.

St. James was down three points with 1:08 left to play, when Nico Reyes was fouled. He shot one-and-one, and sank both shots, narrowing the gap.

On the next possession, Reyes got the ball and was fouled hard at midcourt, hurting his hip. He managed to sink both free throws, giving the Celtics a one-point lead.

After the Celtics picked off a few frantic inbound passes by St. James, Alexander Werbaneth made a free throw to give the Celtics a two-point lead. With nine seconds left on the clock, the Celtics went to the press defense, and were able to keep St. James from getting a shot off.

The Celtics also received valuable contributions in the second-half from Damian Cantaneo and Buchi Amobi. Cantaneo was active on the glass, scoring 4 points in the third quarter that kept the Celtics within striking distance and corralling several offensive rebounds that led to extra possessions. Amobi made a clutch basket late in the game during the second-half comeback and grabbed several key defensive rebounds.

Saint Joseph’s Celtics sixth grade boys’ game ended in a 39-23 loss to a tough Holy Trinity team on Sunday.

Derrick Baptiste and Perry Reyes led scoring for the Celtics with 8 points and 7 points respectively. Cole Latimer and Harry Fardin rounded out the scoring, contributing 4 points each.

Patrick Dawkins led the Celtics at point guard for much of the game, playing tough defense and making four steals. Ben Scezpanski, Matt Morales and Nicholas Aaron were active under the hoop, each turning in a solid rebounding performance.

Saint Joseph’s Celtics Varsity girls’ team lost to Holy Trinity of Westfield, 29-16.

Sarah Johnson led the Celtics with 8 points.

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.

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