Martinez, Meklis put on a show as St. Mary’s tops Fenwick

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Last Updated, Jan 13, 2024, 2:30 AM

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PEABODY — Friday night featured dueling student sections, first-quarter nerves, and a few hard (but clean) fouls. Or, just another St. Mary’s-Bishop Fenwick boys basketball game.

In a showdown that was “tight for three-and-a-half quarters,” as said by St. Mary’s coach David Brown, his Spartans topped the host Crusaders, 79-56.

Tight, indeed. Fenwick’s Domenic Panniello-Torres drilled a 3-pointer with six minutes to go in the game. The score favored St. Mary’s after the bucket, but barely (56-50).

“I’m very pleased with our intensity,” said Fenwick coach Kevin Moran. “This is what high school sports are about. That’s why we do it – for a Friday night like this.”

Unfortunately for Fenwick, do-it-all JJ Martinez (25 points, 8 rebounds, 8 assists) had other plans. The Spartan hit two threes in the fourth quarter – one that featured an 18-5 run from St. Mary’s.

“[For] good players, the game slows down for them. It’s tough to speed them up and JJ has that,” Brown said. “With his size and the confidence he has, he’s a tough cover.”

Moran couldn’t have agreed more.

“They’ve got Martinez and let’s face it: he’s as good of a player as there is,” Moran said. “He hit those threes, went to the basket, and he’s got the whole skillset. Tough to cover, but I think we made a good effort on him.”

Daggers. In a 90-second span, St. Mary’s Kyle Rush (15 points) and Jake Fortier (11) each connected from downtown to put a lid on Fenwick.

“We had a lot of balanced scoring,” Brown said. “When we shoot like that, we’ll be a very competitive basketball team.”

And while the Spartans heated up, Fenwick slowly went cold.

“We knocked down some shots. Basketball is a game of makes and misses,” Brown said. “We knew we were going to be in for a dog fight. This is a tough place to play.”

Things get a lot tougher when you have to guard Lynn-born James Meklis. The Crusader went home with 20 points and four assists.

“He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever seen. He puts a lot of time and effort into it,” Moran said. “He’s a Lynn guy, so he knows all of these players back and forth. That competition is nice.”

Even for an opposing player, Brown joined the compliment party.

“I’ve known James since he was a young kid [and] I know his dad (John),” Brown said. “He’s a good lefty. He gets to his left hand and can shoot the ball really well. He plays with a lot of confidence and he’s strong. When you know how to get your shot off, that’s big in high school basketball.”

Moran credited a few more of his players.

“At one point, Jimmy Vahey (8 points, 18 rebounds) had 13 rebounds and the rest of the team had 13,” Moran said. “He played his tail off, and Brady Jenkins (12 points) did a nice job.”

After ever-so-calm Martinez dictated the pace with a strong first quarter, Fenwick stormed back in the second – outscoring St. Mary’s 14-8 in the frame.

“Every time we got the lead to 11 or 12, they’d come down and make a big shot,” Brown said. “The score may have looked like we won by 20, but we didn’t win by 20… They knocked down some big shots in the second quarter and took the lead.”

That lead came from a Meklis layup in transition.

Then, St. Mary’s slowly took over – not all at once, but like boiling water.

“The difference – it always is in high school basketball – are the first six or seven minutes of the second half,” Moran said. “They made a great run at us and opened it up a little bit. You’ve got to be cognizant of that [and] I think that hurt us.”

St. Mary’s travels to take on New Bedford at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, while Fenwick visits KIPP Academy (Lynn) at 1:30 p.m. Monday after Friday’s learning experience.

“They’ve got a great program,” Moran said of St. Mary’s, which lost in last season’s Division 3 state championship. “It’s good to play against a team like that.”

Joey Barrett is the Daily Item’s sports editor, covering stories about local high schools, colleges, and more. Prior to his current position, he worked for UMass Athletics, the Cape Cod Baseball League, and Gannett Media among others. Barrett was also sports editor at Endicott College, and treasurer of Endicott’s Society of Professional Journalists branch.

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