By: Greg Matrua – Record Sports
PATERSON – Marc Dadika needs support in the scoring column for St. Mary to continue its division dominance.
It came in the form of Alex Pena, Justin Dykstra and Colin Hyland.
The Gaels, No. 23 in The Record Top 25, withstood the first challenge to their NJIC Meadowlands Division boys basketball supremacy by coming from behind Tuesday night to defeat No. 24 Paterson Charter, 48-40.
Pena, Dykstra and Hyland combined for 29 of their 36 points in the second half to help St. Mary erase a 23-17 halftime deficit lowlighted by a two-point second quarter. Simply put, they started making shots.
“A lot of people obviously focus on Marc, and they should, but our other kids are capable of making plays,” said St. Mary coach Brian Gaccione. “I thought Pena did a great job, and Dykstra and Hyland, of giving us that balanced scoring that we needed.”
Dadika, a 6-foot-8 junior, is the Gaels’ lone returning starter and go-to player, and he scored 13. But after scoring nine in the first quarter to stake the Gaels to a 15-8 lead, he was repeatedly double-teamed.
That’s why St. Mary (2-0) needed Pena, Dykstra and Hyland. Pena, a senior, scored 12 of his game-high 15 points in the second half, including seven in the fourth. Dykstra, a senior, scored all of his 11 points after intermission, opening the third with a three-pointer. Hyland, a junior transfer from Clifton, scored six of his nine in the second half.
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