Featured Story

Boys Basketball: Santacroce’s triple-double boosts Monarchs

Bishop McGann-Mercy kept its slim hopes of reaching the Suffolk County Class B boys basketball tournament alive in big way Monday night.

Kevin Santacroce led the way with a triple-double and Nick Kneski added a double-double en route to an 85-47 win over The Ross School in a League VII encounter in Riverhead.

Santacroce scored 26 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and assisted on 10 baskets. Kneski finished with 24 points and 10 assists to power the Monarchs (5-8, 2-5) over the last-place Cosmos (0-10, 0-7).

The Monarchs scored the first 7 points and never looked back as Ross made five turnovers in the opening two minutes. They increased their lead to 11-2 before extending it to a 26-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter. Santacroce scored 11 of his points during the period while Kneski contributed 9 points.

McGann-Mercy enjoyed a 49-20 halftime lead and a 74-36 bulge at the end of the third quarter.

The Monarchs will have a better idea of where they stand in terms of the postseason by the end of the week. They will visit third-place Babylon (9-5, 5-3) on Tuesday and host first-place Southampton (8-5, 6-2) on Friday.