For much of the season, the St. Joseph by the Sea basketball team plays in a bubble, rarely traversing over the Verrazano Bridge.
While the folks on Staten Island have heard the names and know how good the Vikings are, Sea is relatively unknown throughout the rest of the CHSAA, a wildcard in the Class A intersectional playoffs.
In a 64-57 win against Cardinal Spellman in a first-round playoff game Saturday afternoon, the Vikings showed everyone at Mount St. Michael what Staten Island has known all year: Sea is a dangerous team.
“We’re a very guard-orientated team, a lot of players can put it in the hoop,” Eddie Connelly said. “If one guy has a bad game, someone else can step up.”
The Vikings opened some eyes earlier in the season when they went to Archbishop Molloy and shocked the Stanners, 65-60, on Jan. 24. Molloy coach Jack Curran said his team took the non-league game on a Sunday afternoon for granted.
Sea (16-9) proved that game wasn’t a fluke by beating a Cardinal Spellman squad that finished the regular season strong.
“As long as we play our game, I think we can compete with any team,” senior guard Joe Stabach said. “It showed against Molloy, an ‘AA’ team, so hopefully we come out and get another one.”
Stabach led the way against the Pilots (8-16), scoring 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the field and is now 17 shy of reaching 1,000 points for his career. Connelly had 18 points on 6-of-14 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds. Joe Lane added 10 for Sea, which advances to the second round to take on St. Edmund Prep Tuesday at Mount St. Michael.
“They all can shoot it,” Cardinal Spellman coach Fred Opper said. “It’s tough to defend. We wanted to force them to drive a little more, yet they spread the court out so well that they got some easy layups.”
The biggest reason Opper wanted the Vikings to drive into the lane was because that’s where Chris Manhertz resides. The Canisius-bound senior forward has struck fear in opponents, forcing many to alter shots and think twice about drives to the basket.
Manhertz was a force on both ends of the floor, scoring a game-high 26 points, including the 1,000th of his career in the first quarter. He also grabbed 20 rebounds.
“He’s a big boy, definitely one of the best players we’ve played against all year,” Stabach said. “He had a great game, but we just kind of let him get his and everyone else we played up on. We weren’t going to let anyone else beat us.”
Opper subbed Manhertz out in the closing seconds, allowing the 6-foot-5 Bronx native to soak in the accolades from the crowd.
“As good of a player as he is, he’s an even better person,” Opper said. “I’m going to miss him dearly as a person when he graduates in June. I’m going to miss him a lot. He’s just a great kid.”
While St. Joseph by the Sea earns respect with every postseason victory, Stabach’s motivation to win is more organic. He has been teammates with Anthony Cipriano, Joe Lane and Connelly for several years.
“We’ve been together since third grade,” he said. “We don’t want it to end.”