Sports

Rivera honors Murray in McClancy’s season-opening win

There’s not a day that goes by that Brandon Rivera doesn’t think about Dominic Murray.

Murray, a standout on last year’s McClancy basketball team, collapsed on the court during an open gym at Farmingdale College and died on Oct. 7. He was just 17.

“We used to do everything together, all five of us,” Rivera said of last year’s starting lineup. “We used to hang out at lunch, hang out after school. Now that he’s not there anymore, not even there to talk to on the phone, is real hard.”

The Crusaders stepped onto the court for the first time since Murray’s death on Tuesday and Murray’s presence was felt throughout the tiny gym long before McClancy defeated St. Agnes, 49-36, in a CHSAA Class A league game.

McClancy players and coaches wore black t-shirts with “RIP D.M.” in script on the front and “#21” on the back. A sign that read “This 1’s 4 you Domo” sat at the bottom of the stands.

“It’s still fresh,” longtime McClancy coach Don Kent said of Murray’s tragic death. “It will be with us for the rest of our lives.”

Murray was also a big part of Kent’s pre-game speech in the Crusaders locker room.

“We’ve got to play with heart, we’ve got to be hungry, we’ve got to hustle, we’ve got to play hard,” Kent told his team, “all the things that Dominic did.”

No one was more affected than Rivera, who is honoring his former teammate and close friend by wearing his No. 21 jersey, which later this season will be retired.

“When I put the jersey on I was emotional because it was his sweat and his tears from last year,” Rivera said. “I knew that after me no one is going to wear the jersey. I got choked up because he was like my brother, he was everybody’s brother.”

The 6-foot-5 senior forward scored a game-high 17 points, including six of his team’s first eight points in the third quarter as McClancy opened up a 15-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

“I was pleased with how we played defense in the third quarter,” Kent said. “We broke the game open, outscoring them 15-5 in the third quarter.”

In his first varsity game, Peter Modzelewski, a 6-foot-5 junior forward, scored 15 points, serving as a perfect complement to Rivera.

“It’s a good way to start the season,” Modzelewski said. “Hopefully I keep doing this throughout the season.”

Added Kent: “He’s been up and down in scrimmages and, as of late, he seemed to comprehend what we’re trying to teach him. Two weeks ago he struggled. Now it looks like he’s turned a corner.”

While McClancy opened the season with a win, St. Agnes is now 0-2 after moving up from the CHSAA ‘B’ league.

But Stags coach Greg Dolan said his team’s performance was much better than a season-opening 77-27 loss to Stepinac on Friday.

Kerry Weldon had 11 points and Bryant Cruz added 10 for St. Agnes.

“Anything probably would have been an improvement from the other night,” Dolan said. “Defensively I thought we did a great job. It will come around. We did throw some passes into the stands. Hopefully we won’t do that tomorrow against Nazareth. I definitely saw a step in the right direction.”

The same could be said about McClancy.

“This was his home, this is what he loved to do,” Rivera said of Murray. “I’m sure he was watching us.”

dbutler@nypost.com