By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
PENNSAUKEN — The first few games of the season, the Bishop Eustace Prep boys basketball team came out like gangbusters, scoring more than 60 points three times and hitting 70 in a dominating win over Princeton Day. But the last couple of games, defense has been a huge priority.
The undefeated Crusaders have held their last four opponents to less than 40 points each, including Thursday night’s 42-36 win over rival Camden Catholic in which Eustace held the Irish to just 15 first-half points.
The game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated, as Camden Catholic’s Seamus Bieg converted a four-point play in the final few seconds. It could have been even worse had the Crusaders had more success from the free-throw line, too, as they went just 3-for-11 from the stripe. But that didn’t matter the way their defense was shutting down the Irish all night long.
“It was all we focused on in practice and we really brought it today (on defense),” said Bishop Eustace senior guard Tommy Semiraglo. “Going into halftime, nobody was joking around. We wanted to win this game and everybody came out (in the second half) with fire. We kept them to 15 points in first half and that was just fire from everybody wanting to win this game.”
“Emotions are in a game like this, against a rival. It was a big rivalry last year. We came in here wanting to win, thinking we could win, and we just executed most things and pulled out a win,” added fellow senior guard Brayden Killeen. “Our defense was so good today. We held down their three main scorers from what they normally score. Our defense is what really won us this game.”
The Crusaders (8-0, 2-0 Olympic National), ranked No. 19 in the latest nj.com statewide poll, went on a 9-0 run to start the second half that featured a traditional three-point play as well as a putback by Dillon Adomadis, and that stretched a four-point halftime lead into a 28-15 Bishop Eustace advantage. Camden Catholic (7-1, 2-1 Olympic National) didn’t get its first points of the second half until there was 2:51 left in the third quarter, and the Irish trailed by as much as 30-17 late in the third.
“We went into halftime knowing we played really good defense and we had to keep that going. We couldn’t just go out (in the second half) thinking, ‘oh, we’ve already done well, we’re just going to let it go.’ We wanted to come back out and do the same thing,” Semiraglo said. “Offensively, we talked about how we needed to come out and execute and not turn the ball over. We knew they might switch it up, going from zone to man defense because they weren’t scoring. We just dialed in. We had some plays set up to start the second half, we scored on a few of them.”
The Irish, ranked No. 17 in the state, got to within 37-28 late in the fourth quarter on a putback by Azyris Richmond, but Killeen responded with a three-point play at the 2:23 mark that put Bishop Eustace up 40-28 and essentially sealed the deal.
“When they switched out from zone to man they got a few turnovers in a row and that go us down, but we came out (of a timeout) with a big bucket, got that ‘and-1,’ and got the lead back up to about 10 points and from there it was all about defense,” Killeen said.
Camden Catholic got 12 points from Bieg and nine from Luke Kennevan, but Eustace countered with 17 from Adomanis and a big game from Killeen, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three assists. The Crusaders also got 10 rebounds and four assists from Ian Glassmacher.
“This means a lot. They beat Camden by a lot and they were hot, they came in 7-0. Beating them is huge, and getting to 8-0; we’re just going to ride this as long as we can,” said Semiraglo.
Added Killeen, “this win keeps us at a high. We’re 8-0 now, beating an undefeated team — they’re a great team. We just want to keep this momentum, win after win, game after game. We’re moving on to the next one.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Bishop Eustace hosts Lenape on Saturday at 1 p.m. Camden Catholic hosts Woodstown on Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
