St. Mary’s shuns Cathedral

SCHOOLS

Jalen Echevarria made sure one of the premiere matchups in boys basketball in the Catholic Central League carried little drama. Echevarria knocked down four 3-pointers on his way to 25 points, which went a long way toward helping power St. Mary’s of Lynn past Cathedral, 70-51, last night.

The game was a rematch of the past two Division 4 Eastern Mass. finals, both won by the Spartans.

“It was good we were able to get out early and get some easy baskets,” St. Mary’s coach David Brown said. “Jalen was able to get some easy layups and hit a couple free throws early, and that made him more comfortable in the 3-point shot, which was good.”

The Spartans (5-0, 3-0 CCL) led 41-29 at the half and pulled away from there. Back-to-back turnovers by the Panthers led to layups, and a pin block by Jack Abate-Walsh led to an Echevarria finish at the other end and a 50-31 St. Mary’s lead.

Cathedral got as close as 11 points as Khalil Blair and Anthony Berry combined for an 8-0 run, but Echevarria and Nate Duncan drained 3’s to put the Spartans up 63-46 midway through the fourth.

St. Mary’s used fullcourt pressure to jump out to a 14-4 run to begin the game. Echevarria scored 16 of his 25 points in the opening quarter, including a trey from the top of the key as the buzzer sounded to give the Spartans a 24-14 lead after one. Abate-Walsh had 11 points in the second quarter as the Spartans built their 12-point advantage by the break.

In other boys basketball action:

Luis Huertas and AJ Phillip each scored 17 points as Greater Lowell (6-4) narrowly defeated Whittier, 6766, in the Commonwealth Athletic Conference.

Fern Berard powered Malden (5-2) with 19 points and 14 rebounds in a 61-41 victory against Northeastern Conference foe Swampscott.

Damien Perry scored 29 points to eclipse 1,000 for his career, and Bishop Stang (8-0) topped Bishop Feehan, 71-61, in the Eastern Athletic League.

Girls basketball

Annabelle Larnard put up 28 points and pulled down 10 rebounds to lead Fontbonne Academy (7-0) to a 75-39 rout of Notre Dame Academy (Hingham) in a Catholic Conference matchup.

Liv Cross finished with nine points and 15 rebounds, and Pentucket (6-1) stifled Masconomet, 36-21, in Cape Ann League action.