WHITE PLAINS, NY- Coming off a major victory over their archrivals in Iona Prep on Friday night, Archbishop Stepinac came into Saturday afternoon's home date against Long Island Lutheran full of confidence, believing that they could compete against anyone in their way.
LuHi was big and physical down low, but it was the Stepinac guards who controlled the play as the young Crusaders came of age in this one as they were able to take a lead midway through the opening quarter and never trail again en route to an eye opening 76-66 victory.
Beating your main rivals is something that always boosts a team’s belief in themselves, and according to Stepinac head coach Pat Massaroni, that is exactly what Friday's win over Iona Prep did for his Crusaders as in his eyes that win gave them the confidence to know they could have a chance against the 11-1 LuHi Crusaders.
"'Winning a game like we did last night was huge for us," Massaroni stated. "I don't know if we could do what we wanted to do today if we had lost to Iona."
It was that big a momentum shift for Stepinac as Massaroni believed that it could propel his group into a winning streak, though he admitted that getting through a tough and talented Long Island Lutheran group would be a major challenge.
Early on it was all about the three ball for Stepinac as that is what got them off to such a great start. Jorden Means '17 got them started from long range and it was continued there after by Eduard Minaya '19 and Payton Hudson '18 who both connected on first quarter treys as Stepinac took an 18-10 lead after one.
A resilient LuHi group rallied back in the second as the size and strength in the paint that the Crusaders had started to pay off as Esam Mostafa '19 was able to secure offensive rebounds and putback buckets around the rim, and as Stepinac closed in the paint it left open. Pietro Giovanardi '18 who canned a long three from the right side to get Long Island Lutheran within 1 with 3:53 to go in the half.
Makai Johnson '17 would do a good job attacking the rim late in the second quarter for Stepinac, getting fouled and going 4 of 4 from the FT line, and when Alan Griffin '18 tipped in a Means missed at the buzzer, the Crusaders were able to take a 34-28 lead at the break
It was a great opening 16 minutes for Stepinac, and it was the start that guard R.J. Davis '20 said that they were looking for.
"We don't fear any team, we just wanted to push the ball, move the ball, and get everyone involved, and that's what we were doing," Davis said.
The good times kept rolling for Stepinac in the third as even with Mostafa and Donatas Kupsas '18 doing a good job down low, LuHi wasn't doing a good job closing out on the Stepinac shooters.
From the outside Stepinac was lethal as Griffin hit a pair of threes from the wing in the 3rd, and then late it was a long three from the right side for Davis that gave the Crusaders their largest lead of the game with under a minute to play in the quarter at 53-42.
Stepinac was just 8 minutes from beating Iona Prep and Long Island Lutheran in an 18-hour span, and that wasn't lost on Massaroni who said he knew that LuHi had a run in them and warned his team to maintain their composure and play to the final whistle.
"We knew they would fight back and not quit, I said that to them and I really wanted us to keep playing our game and not let up with what we were doing," Massaroni said.
Massaroni's premonition of LuHi fighting back came true as Long Island Lutheran was finally finding some success in the 4th from behind the arc. They only hit 1 in the first three quarters combined, but Harrison Warnock '18 would connect on back to back threes from nearly the same spot on the floor to close the once 11-point deficit down to just 2 at 54-52 with 6:46 to play.
It could've been a time where Stepinac lost their composure and started to struggle from the floor, add in the fact that Means had to leave the game due to an injury on his side between his appendix and hip area, and there wasn't a senior leader on the floor for the Crusaders either. Everything was saying Long Island Lutheran would come back and take the lead late, but Massaroni said that his believe in his young group never wavered.
"Jordan has been a leader for us, he is one of our two captains but I think as a group we have stepped up and I will be honest I felt awful for him that he got hurt but there are other guys that can step up and I was confident in what we could do," Massaroni explained.
Even without seniors on the floor, and to Stepinac's credit, they would not relinquish the lead as Griffin would pull up and known down a jumper from the right elbow, and it seemed as if each time Long Island Lutheran would get it to a one possession game that someone from Stepinac would make a big shot to stem the tide.
As the game wound down it would be FT's that would dictate the finish as Davis and Hudson, Means' replacement on the floor late in the game, would come up big from the charity stripe connecting on 7 of 8 FT's in the final minute of the game to close things out.
LuHi did have chances to get closer, but long shots by Giovanaradi wouldn't fall allowing Stepinac to dribble out the final seconds and come away with yet another big win, this time downing Long Island Lutheran 76-66.
Davis paced Stepinac as he scored 8 of his 15 points in the 4th quarter to help push the Crusaders to the win though it truly was a balanced offensive effort with Griffin scoring 13 points, Minaya adding 12 points, while Hudson and Means each chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively as well in the victory.
It was 18 points for Mostafa in the defeat for Long Island Lutheran to lead the way for them, with Kupsas and Brandon Jacobs '17 both adding 13 points in what is now the Crusaders 2nd loss of the season.
While not many gave Stepinac a chance coming into the game, they certainly showed they are among the elite teams in New York this season and coming away with the victory that truly must show just how good in every aspect of the game this Crusaders team is.
Having now beaten St. Raymond's, Christ the King, Iona Prep, and Long Island Lutheran this season, Massaroni is fully confident that his group can take down anyone in their path, and Davis knows that after a win like this, if they keep playing the way they are now, they can be there vying for a title come the end of the year.
"We just got to keep on pushing and keep beating other great teams. LuHi was a great team and if we keep fighting and keep playing this way hopefully we can go far."
