The St. Thomas Aquinas Men's Basketball team hosted its 6th Annual Tip-off Dinner at the beautiful Rockland Country Club in Sparkill, NY. The evening was a tremendous success, drawing well over 200 guests, including alumni, local coaches, college administrators, officials, parents, families and friends of the program.
The Spartans began the night by honoring Recruiting Expert and Talent Evaluator, Tom Konchalski, Veteran Division I Official, Ed Corbett and Legendary Xaverian High School Head Coach, Jack Alesi with Spartan Lifetime Achievement Awards.
Tom Konchalski is one of the most respected and well-known high school basketball scouts and talent evaluators in the country. Konchalski has been a fixture in gyms all over, watching and evaluating high school players for well over 50 years. Konchalski has evaluated such names as; Chris Mullin, Kobe Bryant, and Lebron James.
Ed Corbett has been one of the most recognizable officials in college basketball. He has worked in 10 conferences, including the ACC, SEC, Big-10 and the Big East. Corbett has worked 26 NCAA Tournaments, including 4 NCAA Championship games and 6 Final Fours and has officiated NIT Championship games on five occasions. Also included in his extensive body of work are the 26 conference championship games, including five Big East Championships refereed by Corbett. Ed Corbett has been inducted into the CHSAA, Yonkers and Westchester County Halls of Fame. In 2011 he received the Naismith National Official Award and in 2014 was a recipient of the John Nucatola Award. He also received the 2016 Westchester Writers Association Award.
Jack Alesi was the Head Basketball Coach at Xaverian High School for the 22 years. In his 22 seasons, he compiled a record of 345-200. Prior to him taking over the varsity team, Alesi coached the freshman and junior varsity squads, and he also serves as Xaverian's Director of Finance, a title which he holds for the past 38 years. Jack Alesi captured the Brooklyn-Queens Diocesan Championship with his teams in 2001, 2004 and 2005. He also went onto win two CHSAA City Championships in 2005 and 2016, and won the CHSAA Catholic State Championship in 2005. Alesi was voted the CHSAA Coach of the Year seven times, was named an MSG Tri-State Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2016, was inducted into the CHSAA Hall of Fame in 2018 and was inducted into the Basketball of America's Prestigious Hall of Fame.
Following the awards ceremony, Head Coach Tobin Anderson introduced the 2019-2020 squad, which sees 11 members of the NCAA Sweet Sixteen team return from last season. New faces DeVante Jamison, Brandon Smith, Jalin Jordan and Avante Gilbert round out a young, but very talented and experienced squad.
Guest Keynote Speaker Steve Lavin closed out the evening with a very special question and answer session involving Head Coach Tobin Anderson and athletes Sekou Cisse and Kevin Lynch. Lavin gave those in attendance and inside look into the Spartan Men's Basketball program, and how coach Anderson and his players interact and prepare for a lengthy season.
Steve Lavin, the former St. John's University and UCLA Head Coach, led his teams to ten postseason appearances, highlighted by eight NCAA Tournament berths, an Elite Eight appearance, five NCAA Regional Semifinals and nine campaigns of twenty or more wins. After coaching, Lavin began his broadcasting career with ESPN and ABC, before moving onto Fox Sports, CBS Sports and the Pac-12 Network, where he continues today as a college basketball analyst.
The Spartans are coming off of a 25-7 season and a Sweet Sixteen appearance at the NCAA East Region Tournament. The team will look to continue their on-court successes when they begin their season in the City of Brotherly Love on Saturday, November 9th at the University of the Sciences. Tip-off is set for 7pm in Philadelphia, PA.
2019 Tip-Off Dinner Photo Gallery