41st Summer Classic Comes to an End

By Keith “Bugsy” Goldberg

The 41st St. Francis Summer Classic ended with a bang with many great championship games.

Bigmamastef and Jameson’s won semifinal games on Monday before squaring off for the championship of the Clare Droesch Women’s Open division on Tuesday. Jameson’s tried to continue their improbable playoff run even after an injury to Mei-Lynn Bautista, but Bigmamastef held on for the 67-59 win and the long sleeve tees. The champions are Kristen Podlovits, Kayla Podlovits, Allie Moogan, Essence Casey, Kayla Robinson, Zoe Amalbert, Jenna Annecchiarico, and Chanel Jemmott.

The Girls High School championship was played on Wednesday, and a barrage of fourth quarter three pointers by Callie Mullin propelled Mullin Basketball Camp to the 60-48 victory over NF Beauty. Mullin scored 19 of her game high 26 in the final period and was assisted by her teammates Caroline Mullin, Taylor Sorrentino, Madison Fiore, Caroline Culleton, Giuliana Bentivegna, Emily Schwarzrock, Grace Clark, Kristy Cronin, and Maeve Bartholomeo for coach Caitlin Mullin.

The Girls Grammar Senior division was the busiest with playoff games on Monday and Tuesday before Thursday’s championship game. After a winless regular season, Storage Place knocked off Brooklyn Window & Door and then Pro Auto to advance to the final. McManus-Leahy Basketball Camp also surprised as the five seed in reaching the final and completed their run with a win over Storage Place led by Logan Leahy with 18 points. Coaches Phil and Kate Hughes also relied on Leah Leahy, Emerson Kotarski, Evie Kotarski, Neala O’Grady, Molly Grace, Reagan Steiner, Juliana Olszewski, Jane Bender, and Charlotte Daly.

Tuesday was semifinals for the Tim Klein Men’s Open divisions. In Division 2, Conte Carpets beat Team Crate 52-47 and 4Elements outshot Coastal Real Estate 58-46.

In Division 1, A&S at the Harbor held on against Cabana 53-47 and then Kennedy’s Restaurant squeezed by Jameson’s 48-47.

Thursday’s championships began with the Division 2 game and 4Elements ran out to a 33-26 halftime lead. Conte Carpets rallied behind 18 points from Joe Evangelista but 4Elements prevailed 54-51 as Gustavo Guillen led with 18 and Charlie Bostwick added 14. They are joined by Bryan Bostwick, Iranian Robinson, Nick Galimi, Satveer Parham, Justin Kaplan, Daniel Kaplan, Andrew Kaplan, Michael Henglein, and Jesse Funtleyder.

The best was saved for last as Kennedy’s took on A&S for the Division 1 championship. It was a game of runs with A&S up 27-26 at halftime and then both teams taking turns to seemingly seize control. In the final minute, Kennedy’s was poised to close out the win, but Steve Bradley hit a buzzer beating three pointer to force overtime. Kennedy’s once again looked to have the game in hand in the extra session but this time Jorel Monroe drove and scored at the buzzer to send the game to a second overtime. Down one with .5 seconds left, Sean Edwards of A&S went to the line. He missed the first but made the second and a third overtime followed. This time it was A&S who took the lead. The defending champs then rallied and finally finished off the win 80-78 behind the clutch free throw shooting of Kevin Crockett who led Kennedy’s with 33. Mike McGuire added 21 and the rest of the 2025 Division 1 champions are Matt Crockett, Nick Crockett, Brendan McGuire, Brad Featherston, Ryan Prendergast, Tom Bellettiere, Pat McDerby, Dean Karis, Liam Monaghan, Desmond McGowan, Matt Foley, and Charlie Lekkas. It was a great finish to the 2025 Summer Classic.