There is still a chance that St. Mary’s can at least grab a repeat of the BCSL National title, but now they are going to need some help.

With a couple of games remaining in the regular season, Wood-Ridge got the upper hand on the battle for the National title as the Blue Devils defeated St. Mary’s, 71-56 on Friday night. The Gaels are one game behind Wood-Ridge for the league championship.

It was sort of a reversal of fortune for the Gaels against Wood-Ridge this time around, although this time it was bad fortune.

In the first game, St. Mary’s guard Andrew Tedesco had a team-high 21 points including three, three pointers as the Gaels pulled away in the third quarter en route to a 63-58 win on Jan. 15.

But this time Wood-Ridge turned the tables.

Tedesco had nine points in the first half as St. Mary’s (15-5) was behind by seven at halftime, 37-30. But in the second half, the Blue Devils did a better job in defending Tedesco and limited him to three points.

Along with Tedesco four Gaels players scored in double figures with Doug Ford’s 13 along with Damar Clarke with a dozen and Travis Taylor with 11.

But Wood-Ridge matched that, led by David Hammer and Kenny Andrade with 20 and 19 points. Blue Devils Christian Muniz though hurt the Gaels across the court with 13 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

After the game St. Mary’s head coach Matt Stone admitted that he needs to tweak the team’s offense where the one Gaels player is isolated and is left dribbling. "It was my fault," said Stone. "I left the one player on the offensive end, high and dry."

Stone is referring to the team’s ball handler at the top of the key dribbling on an isolation and in turn causing several turnovers that Wood-Ridge exploited.

Despite the offensive scheme lapses, Stone gave Wood-Ridge kudos for the league victory. "I give them a lot of credit," said Stone. "They hit some big shots. We just could not handle their defense with our offense."

The Gaels started out well and stayed with the Blue Devils shot for shot for most of the first half.

But with two minutes remaining in the half, the turnovers started to pile up for the Gaels and Wood-Ridge started to capitalize on them. Blue Devils Kenny Andrade hit two of his 11 points in the first half to put St. Mary’s behind by seven at halftime, 37-30.

The Gaels Andrew Tedesco, who was instrumental in defeating Wood-Ridge the first time around, had nine points in the first half, but the Blue Devils defense shut him down in the second half and limited him to three points.

If St. Mary’s looks to defend at least a share of the BCSL National championship, they will need to defeat Weehawken at home on Tuesday (after press deadline). They also need a win over Lyndhurst on the road on Friday while Wood-Ridge needs to lose to either North Arlington on Tuesday (after press deadline) or Weehawken on Friday.