Electrifying night of Basketball at St. Raphael Parish Gymnasium

Two 7th grade CYO Boy’s basketball teams, the visitors from St. Aloysius of Great Neck and the home team from St. Raphael of East Meadow gave the fans in attendance Sunday, a night to remember.

The hotly contested battle was a back and forth chess match between two teams that played their hearts out and left everything on the court.

The unselfish team play was a thing of beauty to watch and the fans got to see electrifying performances from each teams star player.

St. Aloysius’ Gavin Esfhani sliced and diced his way through St. Raphael’s defense and connected on multiple floating one handers in the first half to keep St. Aloysius close. St Raphael’s Dom Longardino carried his team literally on his back by connecting on multiple put backs and timely jump shoots to keep the pressure on St. Aly’s.

By halftime Gavin had collected 21 points and Dom 17, but the truly electrifying part of the game came in the second half when Gavin poured in an additional 22 points and Dom an additional 32 points. Dom played like it was his last game ever and was unstoppable. Dom finished with 49 points and Gavin 43 in a night that will be remembered as a hard fought contest between two teams that played with grit and determination. The final score 65- 56, won by St Raphael is not the real story of the game. We salute both teams for their effort and sportsmanship they displayed throughout the heated contest. The kids really showed their true colors..

Congratulations to both teams.