Malden Catholic hands Lynn English first loss
LYNN >> It felt every bit like the state tournament inside Lynn Tech’s T. O’Connor Field House on Saturday afternoon as three of the top boys basketball teams in Massachusetts were on display at the Spartan Classic.
In what was billed as the game of the day, two of the teams most expect to be playing deep into March met in a semifinal as Malden Catholic’s tough defense gave undefeated Lynn English fits all game. And led by 20 points from Nick Martinez and 15 by Mike Gaffney, it was the Lancers who made a huge statement with a 57-50 win and a date with St. Mary’s on Monday following the Spartans’ 80-62 win over Springfield Cathedral.
“The kids have really bought into what we want to do,” Lancers coach John Walsh said. “Lynn English is a phenomenal team and this is a huge confidence boost for us.”
It was evident right from the opening tip that it was going to be a tight battle between the Lancers (18-2) and Bulldogs (17-1). MC had an early 8-5 lead but English closed the first quarter on an 11-4 run, punctuated by a thunderous tomahawk slam from Joshua St. Jean to take an 18-12 lead.
Messiah Johnson came off the bench to spark the Lancers early in the second quarter with eight straight points that were part of a 12-4 run that Gaffney capped with a basket for a 24-22 lead.
The Lancers led by four (28-24) at the break before the teams began to trade baskets in the early stages of the third quarter. It was a six-point game late in the third when English’s Tyrese Melo-Garcia (11 points) drove to the basket and was fouled. His threepoint play cut the lead to three before Martinez put on a show in the final 120 seconds of the quarter.
Martinez ripped off seven straight points as part of a 9-1 quarter closing run that gave MC a 4736 lead at the end of three.
“Our help defense was really good,” Walsh said. “We were able to trap and guard the perimeter really well to make things tough for them. Tyrese and Warren (Keel Jr.) are probably the best backcourt in the state and we did a great job on them.”
Still down by eight with just over five minutes left, English put on a final charge to try and stay unbeaten. Kyle Kemembin, Keel and Melo-Garcia ripped off six straight points to cut the MC lead to two with just over two minutes left.
But Martinez and Gaffney were able to steady the ship for the Lancers. After a free throw upped the lead to 53-50, Gaffney knifed into the lane and scored on a layup with 50 seconds left to make it 5550. A charge call on Keel Jr. followed and the Lancers were able to hold on from there.
The other semifinal wouldn’t be quite as dramatic as Springfield had an 8-3 lead early before the Spartans (15-5) turned on the jets.
Javihan Martinez drove to the basket and scored as he was fouled to kick start the St. Mary’s offense. By the time Dion Okonoboh completed a three-point play with 4:55 left in the first half, the Spartans had turned an 8-5 deficit into a 27-10 lead. Senior guard Anthony D’Itria was the ringleader in the first half for St. Mary’s, hitting six of his seven three pointers in the game en route to a game-high 21 points.
St. Mary’s led 40-21 at the half and kept the accelerator squarely floored in the third quarter. Three more long-range bombs from D’Itria helped the Spartans open up a 61-35 lead with eight minutes left.
The margin eventually reached 26 at 62-48 with 5:30 left before the Golden Eagles put up an 8-1 run that cut the gap to 15 with 3:00 to go. That was as close as it got though as St. Mary’s responded with 11 straight points to put the game away.
“We knew that Springfield had a lot of good athletes,” St. Mary’s coach David Brown said. “But we were able to do some things and knock down some shots to take advantage of some things.”