Salesian is far from a one-man team.
The Eagles aren’t even a two-man team.
On Saturday in the CHSAA Class B state final against St. Mary’s (Lancaster), Salesian proved how dominant it can be when its top three players can get out and score in bunches.
Mike Cacciato, Kevin Punter and Jason Alleyne combined for 68 points as Salesian routed the Lancers, 83-50, Saturday at Fordham’s Rose Hill Gym.
“You don’t see too many teams where you have three go-to guys to score,” Salesian coach John Miressi said. “It’s pretty difficult to defend against three guards who are 6-3 and above.”
The Eagles advance to the New York State Federation tournament to meet the still to be determined PSAL ‘A’ winner at the Times Union Center in Albany March 25.
“In the beginning of the year we had a board with a set of goals and that was the main goal after graduating,” Cacciato said.
Senior-laden Salesian (20-7) turned a five-point game late in the first quarter into a rout by going on a 16-0 run in the second quarter. Cacciato scored 15 of his game-high 24 in the first half, including several breakaway layups.
“We knew we were faster than them, so the main thing was, if they scored to get it out real quick and I was always down there to get the easy layup,” Cacciato said.
Punter had 16 points of his 23 points at the break and Alleyne added 13 of his 12 as the Eagles went into the locker room at halftime with a 46-26 lead.
It was in stark contrast to last year’s state title game against St. Mary’s (17-10), when the Lancers raced out to an early lead and the Eagles played catch-up the whole way.
“Coach all the time tells us every day in practice [that] it’s important for us to get a good jump and that’s what we did today,” Punter said.
With Salesian leading 56-36 late in the third quarter, Punter threw down a powerful dunk while getting fouled by Erik Simmons before throwing the Lancers guard hard into the stanchion under the basket.
“We’ve been clipped from behind a lot and I almost hurt myself earlier during the season with that same incident so I just went up strong and I literally felt him on my back,” Punter said. “I didn’t mean to throw him into the thing that hard, but it happens.”
The incident nearly sparked a melee with several St. Mary’s players attempted to get Punter, who was pushed off the court by his own team.
The officials issued double technical fouls on the play – to Alleyne and Jeff Pazderski – and ejected Salesian reserve Steven Correale for leaving his bench.
“It was unfortunate,” Miressi said. “I don’t think it was intentional. I think the St. Mary’s kid was playing hard and our guy was hit from behind. When you get hit from behind intentional or unintentional, it’s a natural reaction to react. I think that’s just what happened.”
Salesian advances to the state Federation tournament for the third time in school history. The Eagles won the ‘B’ title in 1996 and lost in 1999. While Miressi spent the week scrambling for information about St. Mary’s, he’ll be busy attending the PSAL ‘B’ tournament this week with FDA, Pathways, Eleanor Roosevelt and Medgar Evers still alive.
“I’ll sleep a little better tonight than I had over the last week,” Miressi said. “I’m happy for my boys, I’m happy for the school and as you can see we have a tremendous amount of support. It’s just great.”
