After a crushing defeat at the hands of the Bishop Loughlin Lions on January 11, Chaminade's JV basketball squad was ready to move on. The loss - considered non-league - halted a seven-game winning streak and stopped the momentum that had been building for the team since Christmas break.
In the Loughlin loss, the Flyers mustered just 47 points, their second-lowest output of the season. Because of their talent, size, and chemistry, Chaminade rarely has issues clearing the 50-point plateau - a mark that has brought them victory each time it has been cleared this season.
Head coach Thomas O'Connell, who missed the matchup in Brooklyn, knew the type of game his team had played and gave credit to the Lions:
"They were a good team," he admitted after watching the tape. "We became stagnant on offense; guys weren't moving enough."
However, the defeat didn't stay in the minds of the players for long.
A new week brought with it two league matchups - on Tuesday at St. Dominic's and on Thursday in the Activity-Athletic Center versus the Holy Trinity Titans. The Flyers, having already taken care of both teams earlier in the season, knew what they had to do to record the same result.
Traveling up Route 106 to visit the Bayhawks, it was all Chaminade from the tip, with Nicholas Sweeney netting 11 of his team's 25 first-quarter points. By the quarter's end, the Flyers had built an 18-point lead, with the sophomore forward proving to be instrumental in getting his team going.
Although St. Dominic's found its rhythm as the first half went on, Chaminade's swarming man-to-man defense forced the Bayhawks to shoot low-percentage shots. The Flyers were scoring at will, with Liam McNamara, Sean Ambrosi, Michael Petrizzo, and Gavin Burger coming off the bench to help break apart St. Dominic's zone defense.
The Flyers went into halftime up, 43-28.
The starters returned to the floor in the third quarter to try and close out the Bayhawks. Once again, Sweeney came alive. A corner trey, alongside three layups - one of which was an "and one" - gave the big man 23 points on the day.
Chaminade's size also resulted in multiple second chances near the rim thanks to the rebounding of Jonathan Walsh and Andreas Donas.
The scoreboard read 63-41 as the final eight minutes of action began. A Jake Pratt three got the Chaminade bench hyped as they cruised through the final minutes. By the time the buzzer sounded, the score had ballooned to 84-52.
Having matched their win total from last season - with at least six games still to play - Chaminade headed back to Mineola to prepare for another CHSAA matchup, this time with Holy Trinity.
In early December, the Flyers dominated the Titans in Hicksville, 90-37. However, the final game of Thursday's doubleheader opened very differently.
The Flyers were without both McNamara and Walsh, and Coach O'Connell acknowledged that others needed to step up in their places:
"It's going to be a group effort to try and grab rebounds without a guy like Walsh down there," he admitted, "and Liam is a big help off the bench, so guys like Michael Petrizzo, Shane Stephen, and Gavin Burger will need to fill their roles."
Although Chaminade scored the first eight points of the game, the Titans came prepared, looking to flip the script. A full timeout from head coach Mike Herring helped his Holy Trinity Titans respond to the early onslaught, as they outscored Chaminade the rest of the quarter, 12-10, and were only down six points by its end. Back-to-back triples from Chaminade's Andreas Donas accounted for the difference between the two teams in the first.
Trinity's freshman phenom Makhi Reeves stepped up as the star of his team, driving into the paint but also knocking down the deep ball. He finished the day with 19 points - the game's leading scorer - contributing much of what the Titans lacked in their first matchup with Chaminade on December 10.
Buckets started to be traded at a furious pace as both teams preferred to push the pace of play, and it remained a one-possession game for most of the second quarter until a Jake Ellwood deep ball gave the Flyers a four-point advantage heading into halftime, 37-33.
Chaminade came out of the locker room resolute in its goal to extend the lead, and the third quarter proved to be the turning point in this one.
Holy Trinity began to stall on offense, and the Flyers turned their strong defense into points. The lead went from four to 14 in just the first four minutes of action, with the Titans losing their footing as Chaminade pulled away.
The momentum in the game had changed in the blink of an eye, and the Flyers never looked back, ultimately finishing off the Titans, 83-58.
Chaminade has now swept Holy Trinity, St. Dominic's, and St. Mary's in the regular season, pushing their conference record to 8-0. Now 15-2 on the season, the squad is hoping they have started another win streak, as less than a month remains in the regular season.
Next up for the Flyers is their final non-conference matchup on the schedule - this one against the visiting Iona Prep Gaels. After that, they will polish off conference play before the playoffs begin on February 8th.
