Our Brother Martin 8th-grade basketball team dominated the Northshore 16-team showcase over the Thanksgiving holiday. The team finished the tournament with a 4-0 record and defeated the undefeated William Pitcher Junior High 40-24 in the opening game. The Crusaders opened up a 26-8 halftime lead and never looked back. In the second round, the team defeated Fontainebleau Junior High 44-28. Once again the Crusaders held a comfortable 28-15 halftime lead and increased the lead to 37-21 by the end of the third quarter. In the semi-final game, the Crusaders faced another undefeated team, the Champ Cooper Junior High from Hammond. The team ended up defeating them 61-38 in a hard-fought game. The first half ended with the Crusaders up 30-18, and they pulled away by outscoring them 25-11 in the third quarter. The highlight of the game was the Crusader team making ten 3-pointers. Elijah Pichon ‘24 made four 3-pointers and Kevin Marinello ‘24 followed with three 3-pointers.
In the finals, the Crusaders defeated Mandeville Junior High 39-25 in another tough game. The team led 24-20 at the half but outscored their opponents 15-5 in the second half for their third victory of the day. By virtue of the win, the Crusaders were the only undefeated team in the16 team field. Mandeville would have to defeat the Crusaders two times to win the tournament.
With the second win over Mandeville, the 8th-grade team improved to 5-0. The team had a balanced scoring attack. Joshua Jackson ‘24 led all Crusader scorers with 54 points in the four games followed by Pichon with 44 points, Hayden Barnes ‘24 with 36 points, Parker Dinsdale ‘24 with 25 points, and Marinello with 13 points. The Crusaders were presented with the first-place trophy at the conclusion of the tournament.
The team closed out the holiday break by defeating Archbishop Hannan 53-35 last Saturday, November 30th in the Conlin Gym. The Crusaders built up a 34-13 halftime lead, but the Hawks closed the gap to 40-28 by the end of the third quarter. Fortunately, the Crusaders were able to maintain a comfortable lead until the end. Seven players scored for Brother Martin: Jackson and Marinello with 12 points, closely followed by Pichon and Barnes with 11 points, Dinsdale with 4, Julian Duronslet ‘24 with 2, and Ty McReynolds ‘24 with 1. With the win, the team has now improved to 6-0 for their overall season record. The 8th-grade team returns to action Wednesday, December 4th in the Conlin Gym at 5:00 PM as they take on Ridgewood Prep.
