The intensity level was at its highest of the summer today in the final pick-up games.   In the 5/6th grade game, Team Sam rode the dynamic performance of Hayden Banner who was doing everything -- scoring, rebounds, assists, steals you name it. Jack McClane was draining his outside shots and Devin Crowley was running the floor. Team John came back in the second half due to the point guard play of Krish Dodani and non-stop hustle of Charlie Jones.   In the 7/8th grade game, Lenny Ialeggio and Alonso Alphonse led Team John to victory. Lenny was ferocious on defense with steals and blocks, and then putting in buckets on offense. Alonso was controlling the paint area, sinking his free throws and blocking shots. Bobby Welch was trusting his outside shot and also running the floor for the finish. For Team Sam, Luke Fortin was always ahead of the pack on the fast break and finding open teammates. Jack Plesser was in attack mode from the start. Anthony Gambuzza had his shooting game going.   Thank you everyone for a great 2018 Summer Pick-up Games!

Week 8 of the Summer Games was played with high emotion and passion.   In the 5/6th grade game, Team Matt was lifted to victory by Charlie Jones and his "baller" cousin Wes. Luke DiLillo made the biggest shot of the game when he sunk a 3-pointer from the top of the key. That shot broke the 31 - 31 tie with under 1 minute remaining. Caden Quigley played a balanced inside outside game. For Team John, Ryan Moore delivered another dominant performance and he was helped by the strong guard play of Emmett Crotty and EJ Johnson. Alec Mertz was a rebounding machine, as usual.   In the 7/8th grade game, Team John was led by the athletic guard combination of Luca Fusco and Luke Fortin. Chase Curran sunk his first two shots from outside the arc. For Team Matt, Kyle Defonce was aggressive to lead the squad in scoring. Anthony Gambuzza was hustling all over the floor and getting to his spots offensively. Lenny Ialeggio and Luis Lozada both contributed with tough defense and rebounds.   One more week to go!

Week 7 of the Summer Games was high intensity play every minute.   In the 5/6th grade game, Ryan Moore and EJ Johnson led Team John to a decisive victory. Ryan poured in 26 points with 12 rebounds and EJ ran the floor to collect 9 points. Luke DiLillo came to play with 6 points and 6 rebounds. For Team Matt, Shane Hillis scored a summer-high 8 points. Hayden Banner and his non-stop motor were everywhere on the court with 15 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds and 6 steals.   In the 7/8th grade game, Team Matt was anchored by Ty Levine who stole the show with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals. Lenny "Layup" Ialeggio contributed 8 points and Colin O'Reilly had the mid-range game going to tally 7 points and 6 rebounds. For Team John, Alonso Alphonse brought out all of his tricks on the way to 16 points and 12 rebounds. Brendan Devine played a strong all-around game with 5 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Spenser Szamatulski battled inside for 6 points and 6 rebounds of his own.   On to Week 8!

Week 6 of the Summer Games was another dandy.   In the 5/6th grade game, Hayden Banner and Charlie Jones worked together to lead Team Matt to a 40-36 win. Hayden delivered an excellent all-around game with drives to the hoop, unselfish assists to teammates and tenacious defense. Charlie continued his strong play with 10 points, 6 rebounds and 2 steals. Grayson Nettle and Shane Hillis contributed 6 and 4 points, respectively. For Team John, Krish Dodani controlled the point with 9 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds. Ryan Luchetta sacrificed his body on the way to 10 points and 2 rebounds. Alec Mertz added 6 points and 3 rebounds.   In the 7/8th grade game, Colin O'Reilly put Team Matt on his back with a 10 point, 11 rebound double-double game. Colin was sinking his free throws. Liam Yin came out of the gates hot and finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with 9 rebounds. Lenny Ialeggio caught fire in the 2nd half when he drained 2 rainbow three pointers. Team John ran their offense through Alonso Alphonse's 13 points and 14 rebounds. Alex Fieweger was not missing and tallied 17 total points. Roan Smith was a defensive specialist but also collected 6 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Aidan Crotty chipped in with 7 points of his own.

Week 5 of the Summer Games was filled with exciting action.   In the 5/6th grade game, Charlie Jones and Krish Dodani led Team John to a nail-biting 33 - 31 victory. Charlie collected his second consecutive double double and earned Player of the Game honors, finishing with a stat line of 12 points, 12 rebounds and 5 steals. Krish was slicing up the defense to find open teammates or to hit his spots for the pull-up jump shots (13 points). For Team Matt, Caden Quigley tallied 15 points and 4 rebounds and was asserting himself in the second half, using his dribble to create space.   In the 7/8th grade game, Team Matt led most of the way as Alonso Alphonse went for 10 points and 10 rebounds, Jack Plesser scored 18 points with 5 rebounds, and Ryan Mollica had the hot hand with 21 points. The ball was moving around the offense for all to contribute. Team John hung around largely because of Bobby Welch's aggressiveness from the tip, as Bobby finished with 13 points and 3 rebounds.   Can't wait until next week!

Bodies were diving all over the court today in Week 4 of the Summer Games.   For Team John in the 5/6th grade game, Ryan Moore dominated his way to Player of the Game with an overwhelming stat line of 26 points and 9 rebounds. Charlie Jones was dazzling the crowd with his speed and then creative finishes at the basket, Charlie's 14 points and 12 rebounds gave him the only "double double" of the day. Carter Hinze's jump shot was finding the bottom of the net. For Team Matt, Haydon Banner lit it up for 24 points, with plenty of scoring and rebounding contributions from Ryan Luchetta and Caden Quigley. Undersized Shane Hillis willed his way to 7 rebounds.   The 7/8th grade came down to the final seconds but Team Matt could not get their final shots to go. Anthony Gambuzza had his fingerprints all over the final minute of action defensively, with a fierce will to win. Alonso Alphonse delivered a dominant performance in the paint area but it was his agility in transition that raised eyebrows. Kyle DeFonce came alive in the 2nd half when he went to his signature floater shot. For Team John, Devin Julious had an excellent all-around game with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Jack Plesser brought out a full bag of tricks as he was rebounding, defending, using his lightning speed and sinking pull up jump shots. Bobby Welch had a very productive game with some clutch shots down the stretch, and finished with 14 points of his own.   See everyone next week!

It was an exciting Week 2 of the Summer Games.   In the 5/6th grade game, for Team John, Hayden Banner was in attack mode and when he wasn't finishing he was finding teammates like Matty Corrigan for the score. However due to the heroics of Anthony Le it wasn't enough. With 7.3 seconds remaining in a tie game, Team Matt had the ball and it was Anthony that pulled up from the top of the key to drain the game winner just as the final horn went off. The crowd went wild. Caden Quigley and Alec Mertz were grabbing the rebounds for Team Matt, while Luke Sardinha and Carter Hinze were making their jump shots.   In the 7/8th grade game, Jack Plesser dominated from the opening tip for Team John. Jack was not missing on his way to 21 total points, while also crashing the boards and finding shots for open teammates. Anthony Gambuzza also had the hot hand to tally 11 points with some smooth mid-range shooting. Devin Julious was staying aggressive for finishes or trips to the free throw line. For Team Matt it was Kyle DeFonce, Roan Smith and Mekaeel Geter spacing the floor with their shooting for big man Alonso Alphonse, who had himself a strong game in the paint area.   Great job by all!

The Summer Pick Up Games kicked off today with a bang!   In the 5/6th grade game, Hayden Banner and Carter Hinze led Team John to victory with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Hayden showcased strong finishes to the hoop. Crew Davis was a monster on the glass with 18 rebounds, and Anthony Le contributed 9 strong boards of his own. For Team Matt, Ryan Luchetta and Caden Quigley anchored the offense with 10 points and 6 points.   In the 7/8th grade game, Liam Yin went bonkers for Team John with 27 total points to go along with 7 rebounds. Alex Fieweger went for 13 points while Bobby Welch got himself 10 points and 4 rebounds. Team Matt overcame a slow start and began to use their big man Alonso Alphonse within the offense. Devin Julious collected 10 points and 4 rebounds including some dazzling finger roll finishes at the basket. Brendan Devine caught fire in the second half and finished with 16 points to go along with 5 rebounds.   See everyone next week!

Tonight the fifth and final week of the Fierce Pick-up Games finished off in exciting fashion.   In the 5/6th grade session, Team Matt pulled away to a double digit victory and were led by the guard play of Ryan Mollica, Ben Davenport and Ryan Moore. Mollica was flying all over the court impacting the game on every possession. Davenport was showcasing his offensive repertoire, both shooting and on the attack. Moore was fighting for and winning every loose ball that was out there. On the inside, Liam Yin was cleaning up all of the offensive rebounds for easy put backs. Team Judah was led by the gritty tough play of Emmett Derby, Brendan Devine and Roan Smith. George Todorovich carried much of the scoring load, and Theo Mante dominated the paint.   In the 7th grade session, it took overtime for Team Matt to pull out the most thrilling game of the season. Griffin Harding led the way with an estimated 30 points, scoring all over the court. Stephen Keating once again took ownership of the inside, and also made the biggest play of the game with 5 seconds remaining in regulation - cutting off the passing lane for a steal and quick layup to tie the score. Sean Donohue caught fire from outside, and Jack Balsano contributed key baskets as well. Team Judah was propelled by a jaw-dropping 45 points from Jack Petrafesa. Simply unstoppable down the stretch. This was facilitated by the great court vision of Liam Ryan, who was quietly an assist machine. Harrison Keith also showed off his play-making, with some impressive length of the court baseball passes. And Jack Knott again had a big time block party with at least 5 intimidating rejections.   Thank you everyone for a fantastic inaugural Fierce Summmer Pick-up games!

In Week 4 of the Fierce Pick-up Games, it was up and down and back and forth.   In the 5/6th grade session, Team Matt pulled out a close game and were led by an estimated 20 points from George Todorovich - he was an unstoppable scoring machine. In the 2nd half Liam Yin went bonkers on defense with rejections everywhere - must have been the headband. Reid Powning made a huge defensive stop in transition, and then Ryan Moore sealed the game with 2 clutch free throws. Ben Davenport made some nifty passes, Emmett Derby attacked the basket, and Matt Debes was finding his shooting stroke. Team Judah had big offensive perfomances from Jack Plesser and Nicolas Alvarez. Brendan Devine and Roan Smith both played excellent all-around games as well. Abdoulaye Ameganvi exhibited improved mid-range shooting.   In the 7th grade session, Team Judah got the last laugh with a 2 point nail-biter victory. Eamon Jones came out aggressive with his shot making, but also made the right passes. Stephen Keating played a tough inside game. Gavin McCarthy was swirling around to find the passing angles. Liam Ryan and Tommy Schindler both got hot from long-range. Team Matt put up a fight as Jack Petrafesa dropped 19 points. Jack Knott flaunted a full array of skills, finishing with an estimated stat line of 8 points, 6 rebounds and 8 blocks! He was the human eraser on defense. Sean Donohue's long shooting range was on display. Jake Fitzpatrick showed again why he is a top defender - leading the game in proper box out technique. Dillon Mannix shot well from outside, and Sean Racette was running the floor ahead of everyone all game long.   One more week to go!