St Johns University at Staten Island - Tomahawk Yearbook (Staten Island, NY)

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SEASON SUMMARY Conference A UNDERDOGS Not wanting to be denied again. the Llnderdogs blasted through the regular season with an unscarred 8-0 record. Led by Tom Crim- mins. Ron Vespa. and Conference A MVP. John Rhatigan. the Under- dogs became champions. They did it by beating the Wolfpack two straight in a best two out of three championship series, 68-55 and 83-71. Getting to the playoffs was fairly easy as the Llnderdogs encoun- tered only one tough game during the regular season against Animal House, with Vespa Q16 pointsj leading the Llnderdogs to a 55-49 overtime victory. ln the opening game of the playoff, the Underdogs soared to a 63- 43 win over Animal House.'ln the first game of the championship series. the Wolfpack came out fastbreaking to a 27-11 lead with 9 minutes left in the half. The Underdogs seemed stunned, but coach Tom MacNamara regrouped his team, and settled for an 8 point Wolfpack lead at the half. The Llnderdogs came out running and gunning in the second half with the momentum in their favor. With 14:30 left in the game. the Llnderdogs went up by two, 39-37. and held on to win. Crimmins staged the comeback. scoring 12 of his 18 points in the second half. while Vespa and Mike Farrell chipped in 10 and 8 second half points respectively. The Wolfpack slowed things down in Game 2 and maintained a four point lead at half time. The lead changed hands a number of times during the second half until the Underdogs began pulling away with the help of Vespa Q18 pointsj and Rhatigan Q24 pointsj. With 3:45 remaining, the Llnderdogs had mounted up a 70-53 lead. The Wolfpack tried desperately to come back. but the closest they came was 71-61 with 2:02 left. WOLFPACK As a newly formed team this year. the Wolfpack had an impres- sive season record of 6-2 and found themselves in an all-out battle with the Underdogs for the Conference Championsbip. Captained by Howie Savery and coached by team member. Ralph Porzio, the Wolfpack began the season with a heartbreaking double- overtime loss to Animal House. 80-76. But. the Pack bounced back and rolled off six big wins against some tough. veteran teams while losing just one more. Super-freshmen. Ron Zarrelli 128.3 point averagej and Bobby Clark 125.8 point averagel, led the offensive attack for the Wolfpack. finishing one and two as the conference's leading scorers. With a starting team made up of four All-Stars fClark. Javaruski. Porzio and Zarrellij, and a solid bench, the Wolfpack had a good shot at the Conference title. ln the opening round of the playoffs. the Pack ripped Parksy's Wonders. 76-49, as Kevin McKeever came off the bench and led all scorers with 22 points. Zarrelli and Clark added 19 and 16 points respectively. ln the championship series against the Underdogs. the Wolfpack lead early in both games with a balanced offensive attack by Clark and Chris Javaruski. But. the Championship-hungry Llnderdogs took away their hopes. PARKSY'S WONDERS Despite their ups and downs throughout the season, Parksy's Wonders finished with a .500 record Q4-43 and found themselves competing in post-season play. Probably their most impressive victory came in the second game of the season when they beat Animal House. 60-50, with Mike Gallagher scoring 21 points and captain Dave Parks adding 14. They also chalked up a couple of satisfying wins against Sigma Chi Q43-35 and 41- 371 and the Garden Staters Q82-761. ln the playoff game, the fastbreaking and rebounding of the Wolf- pack was too much for Parksy's Wonders as the Wolfpack eliminat- ed their hopes for a Championship title. cunlinued

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