Boys Basketball Beat Bruins To Get Back To Championship Game

The St. Luke’s Boys Basketball team earned a place in Saturday’s FAA Championship game by beating Brunswick School 72-63 on Thursday, February 21, in the FAA tournament semifinal.

St. Luke’s started quickly against the Bruins, taking a 15-7 lead early in the game. The home team was pegged back midway through the first period, although Brunswick went on a 6-14 run to tie the game at 21-21 with 7:31 remaining in the half.

The Storm responded well and had a couple of bursts of its own to lead 44-33 at the interval, with Desmond Pratt ‘20 and Lewis Cropper ‘21 instrumental to the team’s defense.

St. Luke’s continued where it left off after the break to command a 59-40 advantage with 10 minutes to play. The Storm kept the Bruins at arm's length with a disciplined display and finished out the game comfortably with Chuck Clemons ‘20 top scoring with 15 points, Jah’khi Washington ‘22 and Chris Jones ‘23 both hitting 12, and Captain Scott Vollmer ‘19 chipping in 10 points.

This is the fourth straight time the Storm will compete for the title in a repeat of last year’s final against Hamden Hall.

The Championship game promises to be another enthralling encounter. The two teams split the regular season contests, with St. Luke’s winning in Hamden 72-68 and the Hornets reversing the outcome in New Canaan 78-85.

Head Coach Tony Newsom knows how difficult it will be to compete against a very talented team, but his squad is looking forward to the challenge: “When we play Hamden Hall, it’s always a game of runs. We really need to be locked into our game plan for the full 32 minutes as they do a great job of taking advantage of your mistakes. We have to play excellent team defense and limit them to one shot. On offense, we have to take care of the ball and make the extra pass, if we want to be successful.”

 

The Championship game is set for 6pm on Saturday, February 23,  inside Carey Gymnasium at St. Luke’s.