Prep too tall for O’Bryant

St. John’s Prep put its substantial height advantage to good use.

Tommy O’Neil scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, while Matt Relihan also recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds as the Eagles defeated O’Bryant, 73-58, in the opening game of the Slades/BABC Holiday Classic yesterday at Cathedral.

“We knew coming into the game that we had the size on them,” said St. John’s Prep coach John Dullea, whose team enjoyed a 38-23 rebounding edge. “We felt we could limit them to one shot.”

Leading 34-30 at halftime, the Eagles (6-2) gradually pulled away in the second half as Nate Hobbs scored 16 of his gamehigh 25 points in that stretch. Hobbs and O’Neil teamed up to score 18 of their team’s 23 points in the final quarter.

DaSonte Bowen had 14 of his 17 points in the second half for O’Bryant (6-2). Rivaldo Soares had a doubledouble with 15 points and 10 rebounds, but Relihan did a good job in making Soares work for everything.

“Matt is a tremendous defensive player,” Dullea said. “He usually takes the other team’s leading scorer and plays good one-on-one defense as well as team defense.”

In other action, Devrae Burns sent the game into overtime by hitting a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left, then added five free throws in the extra session as Brighton (4-3) defeated Bridgewater-Raynham, 79-76.

Jerrod Clark had two big buckets in the overtime and finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, while Johnny Ortiz poured in 23. Quincy Taylor was big inside with Clark, scoring 10 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.

For Bridgewater-Raynham (5-4), Darrius Hyppolite hit eight 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 32 points. Doug Alves had 12 assists.

Levar Williams led a balanced attack with 12 points as Burke (10-0) rolled to a 61-29 victory over Durfee. Devante Jamison had 10 points and seven assists for the Bulldogs.

Jaequan Chen scored 12 of his 15 points in the first quarter as Cathedral (5-4) led from start to finish in a 71-53 win over Boston English. C.J. Martins tallied a game-high 24 for English (0-5).

Girls basketball

Molly DeBettencourt scored 30 points, including the 1,000th of her career, to lead Martha’s Vineyard to a 52-44 victory over North Quincy.

Maggie McCarthy had 20 points and nine steals as Medfield (10-2) beat Lincoln-Sudbury, 54-39.