Eric Keppeler '85
Sports Writer
Sophomore Gary Alexander IV dropped 20 points to lead four Marauders in double figures as St. Joe’s downed visiting St. Mary’s of Lancaster, 86-59, on Senior Night in a playoff tuneup for both teams.
The win, which avenged a 65-56 loss at St. Mary’s on Jan. 13, nailed down the second seed for St. Joe’s in the upcoming Monsignor Martin Athletic Association playoffs.
The Marauders, ranked 20th in the state in Class AA, finish the regular season at 9-3 in the MMAA and 17-6 overall. They get a double bye through to the semifinals and will play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28 at Canisius University against Nichols, Bishop Timon/St. Jude or Park.
“I still don’t think we’ve played our best basketball yet, so we have a little time to work on that,” St. Joe’s coach Cooper Calzonetti said. “I’m very demanding and these guys, to their credit, come in and work hard at practice every single day. Some teams try to scale back ahead of playoffs, but I’ve always been one to keep working as hard as we can.”
St. Mary’s, ranked 29th in the state in Class AA, ends its regular season at 8-5 in the league and 16-7 overall.
The Lancers earn the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye and will take on the winner of No. 5 St. Francis and No. 8 Cardinal O’Hara at 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25 in the quarterfinals at Villa Maria College.
“We were pretty careless with the rock tonight, but that had a lot to do with them,” St. Mary’s coach Frank Propis said after the game. “This is a tough one to swallow, but the playoffs are right around the corner and we have to keep our eyes on that.”
The Marauders came into the game still stinging from a last-second loss three nights earlier at Canisius that denied St. Joe’s the league title.
Calzonetti said that while you never want to lose, that game served as a wakeup call, and he was pleased with how his squad responded.
“As much as you want to win every game, the psychopath in me likes a loss every now and then to bring us back down to reality,” Calzonetti said. “Coming off that loss the other night, there were two ways our guys could have responded – we either feel sorry for ourselves or we come out hard. I’m proud of how our guys bounced back.”
The Lancers got off to a good start and led almost entirely through the first quarter, which ended with St. Mary’s on top, 17-15.
Senior Israel Wilson did most of the damage, scoring nine of his team-high 15 points in the opening eight minutes – including a three-pointer 2:17 into the game that put him over 1,000 points for his career.
But the second quarter was all Marauders, who outscored St. Mary’s 27-9 in the frame – punctuated by a transition-fueled 17-0 run that effectively decided the outcome.
“They turned up the pressure a little bit,” Propis said. “They must have seen something on film that they thought they could exploit a weakness. We started throwing the ball around and we just didn’t look like ourselves for that six-minute stretch.”
St. Joe’s led 42-26 at the break and poured in 28 more points in the third quarter to lead 70-43 after three quarters, allowing both coaches to go deep into their benches for the final stanza.
Sophomore J.S. Shanklin added 18 points for St. Joe’s, while junior Aidan Gunther had a career-best 16 points and senior Liam Horan had 15 points.
“We took a two-point lead into the second quarter, but the difference in the game was definitely that stretch where they went on that huge run,” Propis said. “They’ve got good athletes over there. Last game, we were a little surprised that they didn’t pressure us as much as they did tonight.”
Senior Will Szablewski, who himself has more than 1,100 career points, also had 15 points for St. Mary’s and James Engelbach-Schafer had 10 points.
“Frank does a very good job over there,” Calzonetti said. “Those guys are very high-end and they play really hard. They know what they’re good at and they know what their flaws are and they do a good job of avoiding what they’re not good at.”