Spa Catholic Boys B-Ball Team Captures First-Ever Wasaren League Championship

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Central Catholic boys varsity basketball team made history last Saturday, securing their first league title since joining Wasaren a decade ago.

Spa Catholic eked out a closely-contested victory against Tamarac, 72 to 69. They won as a team—by sharing the rock and turning every player in a Saints uniform into a scoring threat. Five of the newly-crowned champs finished the contest with double digits: David Redgrave Jr. had 18 points, Bryce Peterson netted 16, Reid Knussman contributed 13, Jasyn Thompson added 12, and Thomas Zayac chipped in 11.

But entering the record books wasn’t a walk in Congress Park. The Saints took an early lead against Tamarac, earning an 11-point advantage in the first half. But the Bengals rebounded with a 13-0 run to seize the lead heading into halftime. In the final stanzas, Spa Catholic was able to rally, but they never had more than a 5 or 6-point lead. Ultimately, they won by three at the buzzer.

“I’ve got some gutsy kids that have made big plays for us all year and then made a couple more,” Head Coach Shea Bromirski told Saratoga TODAY.  “We scored 72 points in a championship game and we needed them all.”

Now, the ecstasy of victory is tempered by what’s ahead: a postseason run that is expected to begin on Tuesday, Feb. 24 with a home game. The Saints will likely enter the playoffs somewhere among the top four seeds. They’ll hope to carry their regular season momentum of 10 wins in their last 12 games into sectionals.

“We’re not talking about a championship, we’re kind of just trying to stay in the moment,” Bromirski said. “They have a phrase they use called ‘stacking days’… They’ve done a good job of staying in the moment, making nothing bigger than it needs to be, and just trying to get better daily.”  

Bromirski is in his fourth season with the Saints. As coach, he’s supervised some wildly talented squads. Last year, his boys went 20-3, ending the season with a tough two-point loss to Duanesburg. Bromirski was forced to rebuild his roster a bit after losing last season’s league MVP Tyler Hicks, who averaged nearly 20 points per game. But he had talented players waiting in the wings, ready to fill the void.

“Our depth became a big, big factor as the year went on,” Bromirski said. “We play a little bit faster than we played last year. We have smaller guards, but they’re really quick. We sped people up and tried to wear people down a little bit. It seemed to work as the year went on. It wasn’t cut and dry, what was going to happen. We were 4-4, we were 1-2 in the league, and we finished 10-3. So, it was a learning process.”

Next, the title-holding Saints will try to bring everything they’ve learned into the playoffs.