At nine years of age, scoring the first basket was a great accomplishment. At 17 years old, making it to the city semi-finals is an even bigger accomplishment. Four seniors on the varsity basketball team have played together since they were nine and have accomplished more than they could have imagined.
Seniors Anthony Cipriano, Ed Connelly, Joseph Lane and Joseph Stabach have been teammates for nine years. The boys have led their team to surpass the present record of wins for a varsity team. They have won the most games in Sea history and have also made it to the semi-finals of the city playoffs. No Sea basketball team has ever gone this far.
In addition to their outstanding achievements, the varsity basketball team won the biggest game in the school’s history. They were victorious against Mount St. Michael, the number eighth ranked team in New York State. They also beat their rival, Monsignor Farrell, twice.
On February 23, senior Joseph Stabach achieved the biggest accomplishment of his basketball career. He had a game high 26 points and in the third quarter scored his 1,000th point. He was the fifth Viking to achieve this accomplishment. His contribution helped the varsity team to a victory against St. Edmund’s with a final score of 74-71 in overtime.
The varsity team wasn’t the only team that achieved success this season. Under the leadership of sophomore captains Brian Russel, Louis Mandia, and Robert Campanella, the jv team placed third on the island. They advanced to the playoffs but unfortunately lost to McKee Staten Island Tech in the second round of the playoffs.
“Defense, boards, break,” was the infamous statement of coach Arthur Conroy. Coach Conroy would encourage the boys to get a rebound and try to score a point.