Pennsbury was a winner in Sunday’s Boardwalk Classic contest. Photos provided courtesy of Darryl Rule of J&D Photography.
BOARDWALK CLASSIC (Wildwood Convention Center)
(Jay Craven Memorial Bracket)
PENNSBURY 53, ST. JOSEPH by the SEA (NY) 38
The Falcons started slow and fell behind 7-2 before flipping the script to take a 13-7 lead after one quarter. Brayden Clark and Sean Breslin each had five in the opening frame.
A flurry of mishaps helped St. Joseph’s cut that lead to 27-23 at the half, despite Breslin’s eight-point quarter as the 6’5 junior scored 13 of his game high 16 in the first half.
Defense was the Falcons’ calling card in the second half as the Vikings were held to only three field goals in the last 16 minutes. The Falcons opened the second half with an 9-0 run and never looked back.
Key players: Sean Breslin (16 points, 6 rebounds), Brayden Clark (13 points), Pat Jajua (10 points, 5 assists, 3 steals)
Pennsbury coach Wes Emme:
–The game: “They play a really different style of basketball, and we were both kind of in a neutral setting with the atmosphere and the officiating and the big gym and the big court, so I think there was a little bit of a feeling out process in the first quarter.”
–Breslin delivers: “I thought Sean Breslin absolutely played his best high school basketball game today, just was really well rounded – offense, defense, playmaking, rebounding, and he was the guy today.
“Fortunately for us, we’ve had several guys that have been able to do that for us so far this year.”
–Getting defensive: “They have a very good player, Nick Rebracca, who coming into today was third in New York City in scoring and had been really lighting it up, particularly from the perimeter. Patrick Jajua did an outstanding job on him early in the game, locating him and making him a rim finisher as opposed to a catch-and-shoot player.
“They were super physical, and it kind of caught us off guard. I think we adjusted really well in the second half. We got some strong contributions from Zach Staines and Nick Bunda, who are unheralded bench guys who really made an impact, particularly on the defensive end.”
Up next: Pennsbury will face Wings Academy (N.Y.) in Monday’s championship game at 7:30 p.m.
Pennsbury 13-14-13-13 53
St. Joseph’s 7-16-7-8 38
Pennsbury (53) – Brayden Clark 5 1-1 13; Zach Staines 1 0-0 2; Brady Kent 1 3-5 5; Sean Breslin 6 2-2 16; Nick Bunda 1 1-2 3; Pat Jajua 2 6-8 10; Max Manga 1 2-5 4. TOTALS 17 15-23 53
St. Joseph’s: Nicholas Rebracca 3 5-5 11; John Pertuzo 1 0-1 2; Matt Walker 1 2-4 5; Joey Moran 3 0-1 6; Jack Boyle 1 0-0 2; Joe Susca 0 1-2 1; Arne Mattsojln 1 0-0 2; Luca Mingo 3 2-4 9. TOTALS 13 10-17 38.
3-point goals: Breslin 2, Clark 2. St. Joseph’s: Walker, Mingo.
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