For the second straight season, St. Anthony’s High School hosted the LI vs NYC Challenge, and for the second straight year, they were matched up with the Gaels of All Hallows High School.
Coming off of a two game win streak after taking down Kellenberg, the Friars (9-6) looked to finally build up some serious momentum, riding a 37 point performance by Caleb Aurelien (2023, #23).
Soon after Flushing’s Holy Cross took down Hicksville’s Holy Trinity 78-65, the Friars took the court, ready to get the job done.
Opening line up:
G- Nick Vieux (2025, #1)
G- Kevin Moore (2026, #11)
F- Chris Welling (2024, #13)
F- Tommy Snyder (2024, #22)
C- Caleb Aurelien (2023, #23)
After a hot start by the Friars, that forced an early timeout from All Hallows, the Gaels were able to tighten up an early 11-3 first quarter lead to an ending score of 13-11. The young backcourt of St. Anthony’s showed out on all levels early on, with a couple of beautiful feeds from Freshman Kevin Moore as well as two 3’s for Vieux.
The second quarter showed more or less the same sort of patterns in scoring, except it seemed as if the Friars, who were sticking to their system, handed over momentum to this strong Gaels team who were looking for contact on every bucket. The Friars answered in kind, on the defensive end especially with 3 blocks by Aurelien. The petty fouls committed by SA kept the halftime score at an ever close 26-24.
Fortunately for the Friars, the second half was all about them; within four minutes, the Friars got off on a 13-2 run, producing the first double digit lead of the night. Along with some great hustle on the boards, St. Anthonys was doing just enough to heavily contest shots, but not enough to foul, their one issue all game was solved, and the Friars were flying.
Some great all around play by a triple big lineup featuring Aurelien, Snyder, and Alex Menghi (2024, #14) in the front court produced some incredible results in a zone defense as well as some sensational spacing, contributing to Nick Vieux hitting his rhythm from behind the arc, racking up 20 points. At the end of regulation, the Friars came out victorious 65-41, and won the second half by a whopping 41-17 scoring ratio. Now on their largest win streak of the season, the Friars’ next match will be back on the road and back in the league, to match up with the Bayhawks of St. Dominics.
Eamon Bevan is a Junior writer in his third year working for Scoreboard at St. Anthony’s High School. He is a member of the Varsity Soccer team and is involved in several clubs and ministries.
