Burke rules the Boston City League once again
Charlestown succumbs in 58-54 battle
Burke is again atop the Boston City League.
Jaeden Roberts scored 17 points, including the gamesealing free throws, while Jaeshawn Rogers had 15 points, five rebounds, and six assists as Burke repeated as BCL champions with a 58-54 win over Charlestown on Tuesday afternoon at Madison Park.
Jaylen Hunter-Coleman (14 points) and Victor Soto (13 points, 7 rebounds) led Charlestown. Burke sophomore point guard Jasaad Fenton earned most valuable player honors.
“Jaeden and Jasaad have played a lot of basketball and it’s allowed them to get better and better,” Burke coach Sean Ryan said. “They do things that seem like mistakes but they’re actually working through things and improving.”
The game represented the rubber match between the regular season cochampions of the Boston City League.
The Townies befuddled Burke’s offense for much of the day, alternating between a triangle and two and diamond-and-one to keep the Bulldogs top stars from getting consistent touches. Roberts, however, broke free for a triple to put Burke on top 50-48 with two minutes remaining. After Hunter-Coleman answered at the rim to even the score, Chriz Cruz put home an offensive rebound to put the Bulldogs on top by a pair.
Moments later, the Townies
got back within one on a three-pointer by Alex Wilkins but Rogers finished at the rim and Roberts knocked down two free throws to seal the win for the Bulldogs.
“I was a little nervous because they were in the triangle and two and we don’t shoot the ball well in general,” Ryan said. “We got to the rim a little bit better. We won some 50-50 balls. We didn’t do anything special, we just gutted it out.”
Charlestown opened up the game with an 8-1 lead, but the Bulldogs got 10 points from Roberts and seven more from Rogers to go in front 29-20 at the half. The third quarter belonged to the Townies as Soto put home a pair of put backs along with a Jaylin Crawford-Williams three-point play to give Charlestown a 43-41 lead going into the final eight minutes.