6th and 8th grade both hang on, barely

Joey made his St. Mary's debut this afternoon, taking the ball away from the other team.
Photo Courtesy: Eunice Tom

 Two nail biters, two sloppy games, two wins.

The 6th and 8th graders both came away with wins in round one of the CYO preseason tournament.

It was a very sloppy game, but the 6th grade boys somehow managed to win 17-15.
The game got off to an ominous start when they turned the ball over time after time in the first quarter. They threw balls away, traveled, were called for backcourt violations, 3 seconds in the key. They turned the ball over in almost every way possible.



And still they walked away from today’s game on the winning end.

With the game tied 15-15, Justin, who had an off day from the field, scored two of his four points on the afternoon, with only 17 seconds left to put the 6th graders up by a bucket.

St. Mary’s got the ball back with about 8 seconds, but turned the ball over again, this time on another backcourt violation. The other team had the ball and a chance to win, but their last second shot hit the top of the backboard, and the boys hung on for the win.

It was a sloppy game as expected, since both teams were playing their first game of the year. The 6th graders will need to cut down on their sloppiness, which is a byproduct of how they practice.

In their lay-up drill Thursday night, all the boys were joking around while going up for the shot, so it should come as no surprise they weren’t completely prepared to start their season. Hopefully today’s wake-up call will get their minds focused in the right direction.

They will play in round two Friday night at 7 p.m.

It was also a very sluggish start for the 8^th grade White Team, as they gave up 10 points alone in the first quarter.  The ball just wouldn't go in for white team in quarter number one as they missed layups and open shots and dug the team an early 10-0 hole.

However, the red team picked up the pace and only gave up two points in the second quarter, trimming the deficit to only 12-6 at halftime.

The White Team took the court once again in the third and learned from their treacherous first quarter, improving on the defensive end and adding in a couple baskets in the middle, as they yielded only two points in the third.

Trailing 14-10 to start the fourth, the Red Team stormed back to give St. Mary’s the lead for good. Their defense created turnovers which enabled the offense to score some easy points in transition. Both Jeremy and Michael Ng hit three-pointers during the run that aided the 20-18 victory.

The 8^th grade plays again Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Correspondents Emily Tom and Derek Kwong contributed to this report.