St. M’s back for more
BOYS BASKETBALL
Different setting, but the same result for St. Mary’s.
A year after knocking off Catholic Central League rival Cathedral by a single point in a thrilling Division 4 state semifinal at the Garden, the Spartans did it again in the rematch last night at Woburn High by a 74-68 final.
Down by as many as 19 points in the second quarter, at 33-14, the defending state champion Spartans rallied behind sophomore Jalen Echevarria’s 30 points and the clutch fourth-quarter shooting of Jonathan Mercado.
St. Mary’s will look to defend the state title against Maynard on Saturday.
“These kids never quit,” Spartans coach David Brown said.
“It doesn’t get any better than this.”
After the deficit was cut to 36-22 by halftime, Echevarria buried a 3-pointer to start the third, and his triple later in the quarter capped an impressive 20-4 run that gave St. Mary’s the lead at 42-40. Cathedral, however, would regain the lead on a 3-pointer from Trevor Lynch before the Spartans (19-5) grabbed a 48-47 advantage with eight minutes to play.
Mercado would later put the Spartans ahead 56-49 early in the fourth with his second trey of the quarter, and the advantage grew to 62-54 on a bucket from Mike Cerulli with 3:16 remaining.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Nate Duncan and Lynch brought Cathedral (18-5) to within 62-60 moments later, but Echevarria and Mercado made clutch free throws with less than a minute to play to put the Spartans back up 67-63.
A three-point play from Cathedral’s Khalil Blair made it a 67-66 game with 30 seconds left, but Echevarria and Stephen Fama put the game away from the free throw line.
Division 1
Franklin 60, Springfield Central 54 — The Panthers (22-2) pulled off an improbable rally in the final 20 seconds of the fourth quarter, with freshman Chris Edgehill going on an 8-0 run punctuated by a 3-pointer to catch the Golden Eagles (193) and force overtime, then scoring the win in the Div. 1 state semifinal at the DCU Center in Worcester.
“It’s absolutely amazing,” coach CJ Neely said of Franklin reaching the state final for the first time in program history. “This is the team I would want to do it with. I’ve never coached a team (that plays) this well together or cares for each other like they do.”
On Saturday, the Panthers will meet up with defending champion Cambridge in the state championship game.
The game was tied at 34 after three quarters, then Maickel DeJesus scored eight of his 18 points in the fourth and Springfield Central pulled away for a 51-43 lead in the closing seconds.
Edgehill hit a 3-pointer to cut it to 51-46, added two points from the free throw line and then buried the tying trey. All of Edgehill’s 12 points came after halftime.
In OT, the Panthers maintained momentum and got four of its nine points from Connor Peterson to put away the Golden Eagles. Peterson led Franklin with 15 points.
“It’s a great feeling,” Edgehill said. “I am just so happy for this team and what we have done throughout the year.”