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Storm Hoops Double FAA Champions
St. Luke’s Boys and Girls Basketball teams were crowned FAA regular season champions on Friday evening and will now be the #1 seeds heading into next week’s playoffs.
In a thrilling contest against Greens Farms Academy, the Storm boys had to call on all their resolve in a nail-biting 73-72 win which sees them improve to 12-0 in the FAA and 17-1 overall.
The game, that had been rescheduled from Thursday due to the snowstorm, was played in front of a packed crowd and those in attendance were treated to an epic encounter. With just seconds remaining on the clock, Joel Boyce ‘17 scored the winning basket to start wild celebrations from the home faithful.
Head Coach Drew Gladstone said after the game, “This was all about toughness. We were down with under 20 seconds to go and, as we always talk about, it came down to some key hustle plays. It started with John Wisdom fighting for a loose ball and ended with an offensive rebound and putback by Joel. We were down by eight at one point and our guys never flinched. This goes down as another game that makes us battle-tested and it came at a perfect time.”
On winning the FAA regular season title for the second consecutive year he added, “Winning the regular season championship is a great feeling. It gives us a nice boost of confidence going into our last two games and playoffs and puts us in a favorable position for the tournament. Outside of that, the feeling in the locker room is that we have a ton of unfinished business and the team wants to win the FAA tournament championship next. When you get a taste of something good, you can either be satisfied or just get hungry for more and our guys are absolutely hungry for more.”
Within all the excitement of the game, St. Luke’s senior captain Walter Whyte eclipsed the boy’s all-time scoring record previously held by Pat Powers ‘02. The Boston University recruit, who scored 22 points in the game, surpassed the 1355 total that had been held by Powers for 15 years.
The girl’s game, that was played almost simultaneously at Greenwich Academy, would serve up an equally intense contest with both sides knowing a win would see them take the title.
The first few minutes saw the teams trade blows before the Storm’s defense began to frustrate the Gators and the home crowd. That allowed St. Luke’s to take a 37-26 lead into halftime and they would rarely look back from there.
The intensity continued throughout the second period and, despite GA closing the gap to eight points early in the second half, SLS would keep their rivals at arm's length for a 72-59 win.
Head Coach Matt Ward said after the game, “This was all about heart and resiliency. Both teams played hard and they came at us a few times and cut our lead to single digits. We dug in, made a big shot or got a big steal and pushed the lead back to double digits right away. To get a win like that, in that environment, when we struggled at times offensively, and against a good team, says a lot about the character of our girls and our team.”
Ward, who is in his first season, added, “This league is filled with tremendous student-athletes and terrific coaches, so to be undefeated and win the regular season is a tremendous accomplishment. To get the #1 seed and be able to play all of our FAA tournament games at home is special. We have a lot of basketball left to play and we are excited to finish out the regular season this week and head into FAA tournament play.”
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
