On Saturday, March 23, the Saint Dominic C.Y.O. captured two victories of historic proportions. In a season that saw four C.Y.O. BayHawk boys basketball teams make the playoffs (as well as two girls teams), capping off the successful 2012/2013 campaign for two of those boys teams by taking home the Championship Trophy was the perfect way to end the season. For the first time in recent history, Saint Dominic C.Y.O. had two teams competing for gold on the same day.
Seventh Grade Win
In a heart-pounding battle, St. Dominic seventh grade CYO Team came away with the victory versus a very talented St. Hyacinth team by a score of 48-47. Behind strong guard play, St. Hyacinth jumped out to an early lead that grew to 10 points through the second quarter. Lead by strong play from Luke Puccio and a couple of late baskets, St. Dominic cut the lead to six points going into halftime trailing 24-18.
Exploding out of halftime, Robby Rossiter scored six straight points in the first minute of the third quarter to tie the score at 24. Rossiter ended the game with 23 points and was named the game’s outstanding player. Strong defense by Alex Breuer and Jack Phelan kept the game close through the rest of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was an epic battle by both teams. Fighting through injury and illness Michael Leahy and Justin Renner fought hard under the basket to the brink of exhaustion. Joe Walsh made a couple of late steals and combined with Elia DeBlasio to hit critical free throws in the final minutes. A late basket by Anthony Reilly, who added 15 points, sealed the one point victory and the Nassau Suffolk Catholic Youth Organization championship for St. Dominic.
Recovering from pneumonia, the team was inspired by the attendance of their teammate, Nicholas “Superman” Viscovich. Nick was able to attend the game and cheer the team to victory. With Coaches Robert Rossiter and Michael Leahy guiding this talented team, Sharing the victory together was a fitting end to a tremendous season for the BayHawks!
Fifth Grade Boys Beat Saint Pius
Next up was the Championship game that saw the fifth grade Saint Dominic boys battling against Saint Pius. After see-sawing back and forth through the first three quarters, the BayHawks were able to put some breathing room between the two teams with some inspired play by their forwards and excellent rebounding that proved to be the difference down the stretch. With guards Jack Stern, Keith Curran, Brandon and Christian Colletta and Joe Ricci directing the offense, the backcourt was in steady hands. Forwards Jack Rispoli, Teddy Mangiarotti, Aidan Dinenza, Ben Nicoletto and Connor Sweeney did most of their damage on the boards and combined with a deadly shooting touch, they opened up the court. The final score was 33-36 in favor of the victorious Saint Dominic Champions.
Capping off a 11-1 regular season, the Saint Dominic squad, coached by Mike Ricci and Phil Colletta, was the favorite going into the playoffs and lived up to expectations by marching through the tournament and toppling some of the best teams in N.S.C.Y.O.
Congratulations to all of the Saint Dominic teams on a very successful 2012/2013 and especially to those teams, boys and girls, that made the playoffs. Kudos as well to the fifth grade girls team which took home the prestigious Sportsmanship Award this past season.
