Bishop Stang wins South Sectional title; advances to state semifinals at TD Garden

Stang (19-5) advances to the state semifinals to take on Div. 3 North champion Dracut (14-10). The state semifinals will be held at TD Garden on Tuesday or Wednesday at a time to be determined.

TAUNTON -- On Friday night, Dame Perry picked up his phone and sent a text to the team’s group chat.

“Listen, if we play with confidence, we’ll be fine,” he wrote.

“That’s what we did,” a jubilant Perry said less than 24 hours later, following the second-seeded Spartans’ 72-61 win over No. 4 Burke in the Div. 3 South Finals.

“It feels great,” Perry continued after recording a triple-double with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. “We’re going back to the (TD) Garden. I can’t even express how I feel right now. I’m proud of my teammates. During our preparation for this game, the focus was there every day in practice. Everyone knew how important this game was and no one wanted their season to end. It feels good.”

The Spartans used clever game plans offensively and defensively to frustrate and confuse a Burke team that had rolled through the first three rounds and was defending its 2018 section title. From a funky zone-man hybrid defense to a new-look high-post offense, coach Colbey Santos gave his players a lot to study this week, and their test results came up with straight-A’s.

“They were tremendous. Everyone that stepped on the floor today was laser-focused and played their hearts out,” Santos said after winning his second South Sectional title in four years. “I love it. These kids earned it and they deserve it. I’m so happy for them.”

As effective as a game plan can be, players still need to implement it, and few did that better than junior guard Joey Silvia III, who drew three charges on Burke point guard Devante Jamison in less than five minutes, forcing him to spend the final 11-plus minutes of the first half on the bench.

"We were trying to get into their heads in the beginning of the game,” Silvia said. “We knew (Jamison and Levar Williams) are their best players and they were scoring a lot so our game plan was to stop those two."

“That’s my MVP right there,” Perry said of Silvia. “He doesn’t get those fouls, who knows what type of game it was. He knew what his job was and it was to stick with Devante. It wasn’t really expected for him to get those fouls, but he did it and that helped us.”

Spartans senior point guard Justin Lopes, who finished with 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, also pointed to Silvia as the difference in the early going.

“I don’t know if he was selling it or they really were charges, but he’s just good at what he does,” he said. “He loves getting in peoples heads. He just does what he does. He’s done that since Day 1 when he got here. He’s a spark.”

The rest of the Spartans defensive game plan featured a little 2-1-2 press that dropped back into what looked like a 2-3 zone with triangle-and-two aspects where wing defenders stayed tight on Williams and Jamison even when the ball was on the other side of the court. Santos was quick to point out it wasn't a 2-3 zone, however.

“It was just principles,” Santos said. “It wasn’t man. It wasn't zone. We gave guys jobs to do. It was four days of work.”

Getting Jamison in foul trouble was big, but the Spartans also focused on Williams, who led all scorers with 27 but only hit three 3-pointers.

“We were trying not to let Levar get the ball at any point,” Perry said. “Even with a couple minutes left in the game he was still hitting tough shots. You give him a little room and it’s going in.”

But it wasn’t just the defense that allowed the Spartans to hold the lead for the final 28 minutes of the game. After studying film, they identified that in Burke’s extended 3-2 zone there was an open spot in the middle to run the offense through the high-post, and they put Declan Markey and Eric Camacho there. The duo combined for 12 first-half points and finished with 28 points and four assists combined, 20 of which came from Markey, a sophomore.

“Offensively, we wanted to get into a rhythm,” Lopes said. “They play a funky zone, we didn’t even know what to call it. We just noticed the soft spots were the middle and the corners. We got it there and we got it to work.”

Perry was another key cog, scoring 12 points in the first half to help the Spartans take a 32-28 lead into the locker rooms. After going scoreless in the third quarter, he put up 11 points in the fourth, hitting 9-of-10 free throws in the final six minutes.

“We struggled at the beginning of the year with free throws,” said Perry after his team finished 19-for-27 from the stripe in the second half. “Every day in practice coach has us shooting. We’ve gotten better the last couple of games.”

The Spartans finally shot the ball better from deep, with five different player knocking down a combined seven 3-pointers, and the team finishing the game 7-of-23 from deep.

“It’s about time,” Lopes said. “We’ve been struggling at the line and from 3. For us to see the ball go in, that’s all it takes to get it going.”

Stang’s biggest lead of the first half was eight, when Camacho hit a layup with 4:19 left in the second quarter to put the Spartans up 28-20. After seeing their advantage dip as low as four, the Spartans started to pull away in the third quarter when Markey scored four-straight points for a 49-40 edge. With seven seconds left in the third quarter, Markey hit a corner 3 and Stang had its first double-digit lead of the game.

Burke’s leading scorer, Levar Williams, tried to keep his team in it, scoring eight points early in the fourth, but the Bulldogs never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

WHAT IT MEANS: Stang (19-5) advances to the state semifinals to take on Div. 3 North champion Dracut (14-10). The state semifinals will be held at TD Garden on Tuesday or Wednesday at a time to be determined.

REVENGE TOUR: The Spartans finished off their two-game Revenge Tour of Div. 3 South. First, they beat Norwell in the semifinals two years after Norwell eliminated them in the quarterfinals. Then, they beat Burke, which eliminated Stang in the 2018 semifinals before beating Apponequet for the section crown. "The revenge tour has been completed and we’re back at the Garden and we’re just going to take it game-by-game and get what we’ve been wanting,” Lopes said.

SANTOS ON SILVIA: “He took three huge charges. He frustrated them defensively. What he did, which unless you really watch basketball and understand it you’ll miss, he changed the complexion of that game by getting them in foul trouble. He was so big today, it was unbelievable.”

FIVE ALIVE: Jamison wasn’t the only Bulldog in foul trouble throughout the afternoon. Four Burke players fouled out by the end of the game: Jamison (1:02 left), Pedro St. Fleur (1:50 left), Ricco Warden (3:24 left) and Michael Celestin (5:27 left). Stang got into the double bonus with four minutes left in the first half, although they were unable to get to the line and capitalize. In the second half, Stang was in the bonus with seven minutes to go and the double bonus with 3:39 to play.

STANG STATS: Perry led the way with 23 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists and three steals; Markey had 20 points, three rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block; Lopes had 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists; Camacho had eight points, two rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block; Silvia had six points, three boards, one assist and two steals; and Isaiah Rodrigues finished with four points and three rebounds. … The Spartans shot 44 percent from the field (22-for-50), 30.4 percent from deep (7-for-23) and 63.6 percent from the line (21-for-33) while turning the ball over 12 times.

BURKE STATS: The Bulldogs shot 45.1 percent from the field (23-for-51), 30.4 percent from deep (7-for-23) and 80 percent from the line (8-for-10) while turning the ball over 20 times, including nine in the second quarter.

NOTES: Olivia Thomas sang a beautiful National Anthem before the game. ... Perry and Silvia both came up with big offensive rebounds in the final two minutes to allow Stang to run out the clock. ... Weirdly, Stang had exactly three turnovers in all four quarters.