Basketball Recap: St. Joseph Comes Up Short

St. Joseph was the 89-80 winner over Serra Catholic when they last played one another back in December of 2016, but their luck changed this time around. The St. Joseph Spartans were dealt a 64-31 defeat at the hands of the Serra Catholic Eagles on Tuesday. While losing is never fun, the Spartans can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 590th, while the Eagles are ranked 172nd).

St. Joseph lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being John Marino, who posted nine points. That's the most points Marino has posted since back in December of 2023. Another player making a difference was Ryan McCarthy, who had eight points.

Tyler Sapida continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Serra Catholic, dropping a double-double on 18 points and 14 boards. With that strong performance, Sapida is now averaging an impressive 8.2 rebounds per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Owen Dumbroski, who earned 14 points along with seven rebounds and four steals.

St. Joseph has traveled a rocky road recently having lost three of their last four matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 6-6 record this season. As for Serra Catholic, the victory (which was their third in a row) raised their record to 10-1.

St. Joseph didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 68-47 loss against Monessen on the 10th. As for Serra Catholic, they also wasted no time getting back out on the court and have already played their next contest, a 73-44 defeat against Neighborhood Academy on the 10th.