Upper Darby, PA – It was a dominating performance by the St. Demetrios boys who stumped St. Luke yesterday in this local basketball rivalry. St. Demetrios turned on all cylinders as they jumped out to a 19 point lead, before St. Luke woke up. But the damage was already done, as St. Luke tried to play catchup the rest of the game. The victory places St. D’s at 7-1 and reaffirms them as the team to beat in the DVGOBL.

St. Demetrios 47, St. Luke 41

Early in the second quarter, it nearly turned into a blowout. The St. Demetrios boys had rolled out to a 30-11 lead over St. Luke. The St. Demetrios offensive attack appeared that it could do no wrong. Around the perimeter, driving through the zone defense, or even on a fast break, St. Demetrios looked like a fine oiled machine – driven by their coach Louie Karapanagiotidis. “I train them hard. They are conditioned and follow direction well – better than last year”, said Karapanagiotidis.

The St. Demetrios fast break was really impressive. Chris Dawson and Laz Louca leaped over the St. Luke defenders and left them standing on the back of their heels as they ran the fast break offense all night. Their great ball movement and covering the boards on defense, they controlled the tempo through most of the game. It was a night where everything went their way.

For St. Luke, MVP Gregg Vlassopoulos led the attack. He got almost half his team’s points (20) and did the most damage. But he got no help. The rest of his team wasn’t able to contribute nearly enough offense to make a game out of it. The third quarter saw St. Luke make a comeback that got them within five points midway through the fourth quarter. But there would be no more. St. Demetrios called a few timeouts and regrouped on defense each time. Eventually, the St. Demetrios conditioning and smart ball management became evident. They closed down St. Luke on offense and ran out the clock – claiming the day. The loss for St. Luke drops them in a tie with St. George. Both teams have four losses and share fourth place. While St. Demetrios has only one loss from early in the season and sits on top of the league in 1st place.

St. Luke 21, St. Demetrios 20 (Girls)

There wasn’t much to cheer about at the end of the first quarter of this matchup between the St. Luke and St. Demetrios girls game. A score of 0 to 0 was registered at the end of the first quarter. And by the end of the first half, it was just 6-4. St. Demetrios was ahead by two points. But the third quarter really told the story here. St. Luke jumped out to a three-point lead and led much of the second half. It appeared that St. Luke was a lock at that point. But with just a few minutes left in the game, the St. Demetrios girls went into a full court press and forced St. Luke’s to cough up the ball several times. St. Demetrios capitalized on the repeated opportunity and tied the game at 19 before St. Luke scored again. St. Demetrios had a few additional chances to take back the lead and even win the game. With just one second left, they applied a man to man full court press that continued to be fruitful. Having stolen the ball inside the paint, a last second shot was thrown up several times but missed its mark as the buzzer blew. Elena Sossangelos of St. Luke led all scores with 12 points.