NEEDHAM — The wounds from final yr’s playoff loss nonetheless sting St. Sebastian’s basketball star Trevor Mullin.
With his group set to embark on its newest event run, the senior privately reached out to Arrows coach Dave Hinman earlier this week.
The message was that Mullin was extra enthusiastic about making profitable performs, no matter whether or not or not they might assist him in his pursuit of a lofty profession milestone. The Yale-commit backed his phrases, scoring 15 factors, whereas freshman sensation AJ Dybantsa registered a game-high 23 factors, serving to second-seeded St. Sebastian’s (25-1) earn a visit to the NEPSAC Class A semifinals with a 72-52 rout of No. 7 St. Paul’s (N.H.) Wednesday.
Hundreds of followers packed the tight-knit gymnasium, many attending with the hopes of seeing Mullin shatter the two,000-point barrier. The senior entered the night needing 26 to achieve the mark, and St. Paul’s (15-9) made a concerted effort to take him out of the sport within the early going. When Mullin realized he wasn’t going to have too many capturing alternatives, he began to get inventive with the ball.
With 2:28 to play within the opening half, the senior sprinted up the court docket in transition, and seen Dybantsa out of the nook of his eye. He proceeded to lob a cross up for the freshman, and was rewarded with a thundering, two-handed alley-oop dunk as St. Sebastian’s took a 35-19 lead.
“I’m not really trying to force (things),” stated Mullin. “Not really thinking about (the milestone). Just really thinking about trying to get the ‘dub.’ If it comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. We’re going for a championship here. We’ve got to get that Class A dub. So, we’ve got two games left. If it comes, it comes.”
Logan Carey beat the buzzer with a breakaway slam dunk for St. Paul’s, slicing the deficit to 40-26 at intermission. But the Pelicans have been unable to shut the hole additional.
Midway by the second half, Dybantsa determined to placed on a present for the group. He gained a head of steam, then drove towards the rack. As he leaped up over a number of defenders, his eyes widened. After the freshman collected himself, he completed a shocking one-handed slam.
“I actually lost the ball,” stated Dybantsa. “I know I can dunk off-air, but I wasn’t planning on dunking it until I actually got up there. I just put it down, I started screaming. Got us momentum, and that’s what got us to push.”
Mullin will now look to eclipse 2,000 profession factors subsequent week when St. Sebastian’s battles Williston Northampton for an opportunity to play within the NEPSAC’s Class A finals, needing 11 to grow to be the eightieth particular person in state historical past to take action. If profitable, he would additionally be a part of his older sister Maddie in carrying out the feat, and the 2 would grow to be the primary pair of siblings to earn such an accolade within the Commonwealth.
“This is a credit to Trevor,” Hinman stated afterward. “We are trying to win a championship, and Trevor is more concerned with that. He sent me a text earlier this week about it. He wants to win a championship. If that milestone comes, then we’ll be really happy for it. If we keep winning, it’s probably going to happen.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com