THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 27, 2002

Intermediate Basketball.
 The following is a bird’s eye view of the last several games in the Dragons’ season.
Plagued by injury, the Dragons held on for a 33-25 victory over St. Mary of Winfield on November 15. Bobby Tesseyman (14 points, 4 rebounds) and Colton Heller (13 points, 4 rebounds) led the offensive attack, while Pat Santoro played a tough interior game, securing six rebounds and keeping the drives out of the lane.
The Dragons traveled to St. Vincent Ferrar for their first Brooklyn CYO contest. Once again playing shorthanded with five, the Dragons provided a tough battle for three quarters as they entered the fourth quarter trailing by eight. Fatigue caused sloppy play, poor passing and only an attempt at defense as the Brooklyn squad went on a 21-1 run to secure a 62-31 victory. Sean Loftus led the Dragons with 12 points. Mike Ruppert provided excellent work on the boards and ball movement was crisp and intelligent.
The weekend went from bad to worse on November 24, as the Dragons were caught sleeping by the St. Pancras team looking to avenge two earlier losses to the Dragons. Resorting too often to street ball mentality caused the Dragons to break down as a team and become victimized by an intense Pancras defense. Dom Perrazzo hit for 15 points, and the Dragons had no answer for the speedy Mike Rapp, who roamed the lanes, disrupted the passing game and led all scorers with 19 points in a 44-25 Pancras victory.
The Dragons started the month of December at Resurrection Ascension, securing a 42-25 victory behind the scoring of Bobby Tesseyman (12 points, 4 rebounds) and Colton Heller (8 points). Ishaan Kumar helped on the boards with six rebounds, while scoring four. J. Montemayer had 15 for RA.
The second Brooklyn CYO game was a victory for the Dragons as they defeated St. Clare’s 46-23 in a well-balanced attack spearheaded by Bobby Tesseyman’s 12 points and 8 rebounds.
Chris Armstrong’s return to action after suffering a knee injury was marked by a monster game off the boards (16 rebounds, 6 points). Sean Loftus (6 points, 4 rebounds), Mike Ruppert (8 points, 5 rebounds), and Dave Losinno (6 points, 3 rebounds) all paced the Dragons as they distributed the ball with patience in the search for the open man.
On December 8, St. Aloysius visited the center and engaged the Dragons in a game of non-stop transition basketball.
St. Aloysius pressed for the entire game, forcing the Dragons to be very careful in moving the ball. Bobby Tesseyman’s nine fourth quarter points (16 in all) propelled the Dragons to 51-47 victory. Pat Santoro, playing one of his better games of the year, hitting for 10 points and securing 3 rebounds.
Yet it was the emergence of Ishaan Kumar (9 points, 4 rebounds), who was able to stop the most explosive player on the court for St. Aloysius in the fourth quarter, that was the story of the game. Resorting to a box-and-one defense after playing a zone against the much speedier Aloysius, the Dragons with the help of Ishaan were able to limit this potent scoring machine to two field goals in the fourth quarter and 22 points overall.
This past Saturday, the Dragons went back to Brooklyn to play St. Mark’s in Sheepshead Bay.
Physically overmatched by this huge team, the Dragons were unable to focus and beat themselves with poor passing, lazy defense and timid rebounding. They entered the fourth quarter down by 14 points, 30-16. Coaches Rich Heller and Mike Ruppert reminded the boys that they knew what had to be done and only needed the will to accomplish the task. Climbing back one basket at a time and playing intense defense, the Dragons willed themselves back into the game. Bobby Tesseyman hit for 13 of his 23 points in this quarter (including three 3’s), and Colton Heller hit for all five of his points in this frame, driving twice to the basket in transition. Chris Armstrong pulled in three of his six rebounds in the last round, and Mike Ruppert secured a huge offensive rebound and put back with a minute remaining as the Dragons came away with a 39-31 victory going on a 23-1 run in the fourth quarter.
Last Sunday the Dragons made it five in a row (8-1 CYO, 13-4 overall) with a victory over St. Teresa’s 50-39.
Playing a full-court zone press in the tight confines of St. Teresa’s gym, the Dragons were able to disrupt the game plan and force the speedy point guard Jesus to rely on himself. He led all scorers with 20 points. The Dragons were led by Chris Armstrong’s 16 points, 4 rebounds and Bobby Tesseyman’s 16 points and 3 boards. Mike Ruppert had a strong game with 6 points and 6 rebounds.
The Dragons wish everyone a healthy and happy holiday season.