Mamadou, St. Marys Upend Chaminade
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK -- Highly regarded junior Mamadou Diakite scored 15 points despite major foul trouble and St. Mary's shut down junior star Dan Nawrocki of Chaminade during its 62-42 semifinal victory held at Hofstra University.
St. Mary's will face St. Dominic this Tuesday night at Hofstra in this CHSAA Long Island "B" championship game. The winner of Tuesday's game will face New York City's representatives from the "B" league.
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Diakite picked up two fouls early in the second quarter and he sat out the remaining 5:14. Despite this, St. Mary's led 27-19. It was 39-25 after three quarters. Diakite picked up his third foul with 5:17 remaining in the third. He was sat down again with St. Mary's leading 34-21.
But St. Mary's has other players too. Keith Tilley was relentless on the boards and he picked up 12 points, all on the inside. Bill Clarke also had a solid game for St. Mary's. He scored eight while unheralded Jared Weir also added eight points.
After Paul Tricarico hit a three-pointer with 6:27 left in the game, St. Mary's had extended the lead to 44-27. They were never challenged again because St. Mary's Nate Marner did an excellent job in keeping Nawrocki, the 6-6 junior, off the boards. Nawrocki scored only six points.
Brendan Hurley led Chaminade with seven points. St. Mary's also did an excellent job in swarming the Chaminade guards, making it hard for their perimeter passers to get the ball inside to Nawrocki.