Saints take home CAL title

By PETE FONTAINE
Posted 3/20/19

IMMACULATE CONCEPTON WINS STATE TITLE MARCH 20-21 By PETE FONTAINE They are located just a blocks or five apart - 4.2-miles to be precise - and sometimes referred to as Neighborhood Rivals" especially when it comes to basketball and the well-organized"

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Saints take home CAL title

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They are located just a blocks or five apart - 4.2-miles to be precise - and sometimes referred to as “Neighborhood Rivals” especially when it comes to basketball and the well-organized Catholic Athletic League.

They are two parochial schools located in Kent County steeped with education excellence and special and storied sports traditions.

They are coached by legends, one a veteran business owner-professional who has given up nearly unmatched personal time in his life to help kids get better and develop into successful basketball players and men; the other an upstart skipper who was once a highly acclaimed schoolboy player who has in a short time become well-known in coaching circles.

So, there were the David DelFino-coached Saints of Immaculate Conception Regional Catholic School in Cranston and long-time Eagles coach Mike Murphy from St. Joseph’s School in West Warwick set to tip off for the coveted CAL (Catholic Athletic League) 7-8 grade division state championship.

Both teams were armed with impressive unblemished records and backed by their loyal legions of fantastic fans that jammed into every available seat – and standing space - Sunday afternoon inside La Salle Academy’s McLaughlin Center in Providence an was CAL’s largest crowd of the entire season.

It as an epic battle of huge proportions, as a combined total of 22 well-dressed seventh and eighth boys raced up and down the McLaughlin Center for a total of 28 minutes to determine the 2018-19 CAL state basketball champion and determine which of the teams will represent Rhode Island in the March 29-31 New England Regional Tournament at Trinity High School in Manchester, NH.

There was much, much more at stake, as well.

For Murphy’s well-coached Eagles it was a chance for redemption, as Sunday marked the third time in as many years that St. Joe’s played its way into the state finals, only to come up short the past two winters.

For DelFino’s well-drilled Saints, it was an opportunity for Immaculate Conception to complete its first-ever season under the former Bishop Hendricken High All-Stater undefeated and bring home the crown after losing in last year’s title tilt.

In the end, the clutch foul shooting of Colby Kuzman and Cole Carbone, who also grabbed a loose ball rebound and raced coast-to-coast for an unmolested lay-up that gave IC a 36-33 lead with 53 seconds left before DelFino’s dynamos staked claim to a 41-36 triumph and coveted CAL crown.

As Steve Martin, a long-time CAL director who works with the program President Phil Ricci, who in his younger years was a coaching legend at East Providence High were concerned: “There were no losers in this game; all the boys played like champions.”

More impressively, perhaps, is that under CAL rules every player on each team must play a certain amount of time in all games, which puts into perspective the league’s philosophy and means that coaches must mix-and-match their line-ups accordingly.

For IC, Kuzman led the scoring with 11 points, Carbone added 10 key points while Anthony Corsinetti – son of Johnston High’s outstanding girls’ basketball coach Chris Corsinetti – canned seven points as did Campani Batista, who was quite prominent in Conception’s rebounding cause in a game that IC held onto one-and-three point leads and had to stage a comeback late when it appeared that a late rally would propel Murphy’s club into the winner’s circle..

Nick DeCosta, Nick Banspach and Tommy Chouun also added key points for IC while Brady Williams, Peter Pastore, Steven Meloni, Chris Geraghty, and Andrew Poyant all turned in valuable minutes for Saints who were also bolstered by the on-the-bench inspiration of Caleb Fitzgerald, who was injured and unable to play Sunday.

Meanwhile, St. Joe’s got a huge 11-point performance from Anthony Manna, an additional nine from sharpshooting Drew McCaughey and eight big points from Brendan Sisson, Dylan Vivieros, Ethan Kelley, Brady Rajotte and Christian Fernando who all added key points to the Eagles total.

St’s Joe’s, a team that Director Martin described as a “gritty and great group of young kids”, were bolstered by some super play from Josiah Flynn and Jason Martin. The Eagles, as noted were coached by Mike Murphy. His top-notch assistants were Mike Wheeler and Dylan Wheeler.

DelFino, a life-long Johnston resident who is in only his second year at the IC helm, was ably assisted by Justin Kolenda and Mark McPhillips.

“I could not be more proud of a group of guys,” DelFino said after the jubilant post-game celebration. “We take great pride in trusting the process; if you respect the process, you will be successful.”

The respected Saints coach, who is a URI graduate and before com9ing to IC served as Johnston High’s Athletic Director, added: “These young men have show great character on and off the court. They have carried on the culture of what defines ICCI basketball.

The energetic IC skipper, who recently ran and completed the Boston Marathon and is the son of Richard and Deborah DelFino, also emphasized during his post-tame interview: “The supp0rt we have received from families, friends, faculty and staff is incredible! We could not do what we do without great support and that is what we have here at ICCR – we have grown as a family, one filled with love, integrity, hard work and grit.”

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