Spa Catholic uses stout defensive effort for win over Greenwich

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Spa Catholic’s defensive effort Friday was nothing short of dominant, and it propelled them to victory 54-37 over Greenwich at the Broadway Gym.

The Saints’ defense seemed to confuse Greenwich in the first quarter holding them to only 3 points while adding 13 of their own including a buzzer-beating 3 by sophomore Aidan Dagostino.  The defense in the second quarter also played fantastic only allowing 8 points. The Saints offense stepped it up in the second quarter scoring 19 points with back to back 3 pointers by Ben Scammell  to open up the quarter. Scammell had 10 points with a total of three 3 point field goals.

“I thought we came out well defensively, we mixed it up and went to a 1-3-1 zone and I think they (Greenwich) were a little surprised by that.” Spa Catholic’s coach Ken Mantia said. “The bench play is giving us a great lift, guys are coming in and making great passes, and I thought Terel (Tillman) and Sean Englert were dominant tonight.”

Tillman filled up the stat sheet tonight with 9 points, 8 assists and 6 steals.

Sean Englert had a phenomenal performance leading Spa Catholic with 15 points and 16 rebounds.

The second half opened up and Greenwich came out strong, scoring 16 points to Spa Catholic’s 10 in the 3rd quarter. Spa Catholic’s defense all night seemed to bother Greenwich, forcing them to make bad passes and turnover and just not be able to get good shots. It seemed often that the shot clock was almost up and Greenwich didn’t have a good look.

“Great win against a tough Greenwich team, everybody played well and we moved the ball well. We came out in 1-3-1 and they weren’t ready for it,” senior Sam Haraden said.

Haraden added 8 points in the win.

Heading into the 4th quarter Greenwich trailed 42-27 and were unable to make up the deficit.

Spa Catholic still only has 1 loss in conference play, 2 losses overall, losing at Hoosic Falls on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and at Argyle earlier in the season, and now improves to 14-2 overall and atop the Batenkill division of the Wasaren League.

Greenwich falls to 8-2 in conference play and 10-6 overall and sit second in the Hudson Division.