BC High too much for Lowell
BOSTON >> Matt Draheim took things where Eagles dare.
The senior guard netted a game-high 27 points, including 15 in the first half, as the 13th-seeded Boston College High School boys basketball team defeated 20th-seeded Lowell 75-58, in the first round of the Division 1 state tournament.
“It feels very good,” said Draheim, whose team opened the season at 1-6. “We obviously had a slow start to the season. We came such a long way, and now winning the first round of the playoffs, we’ll see what we can do from here.”
A 6-foot senior guard, Draheim opened the game by netting the Eagles’ first 10 points, including hitting a pair of treys to grab a 20-3 lead.
BC junior captain Ivan Yhomby (12 points) — the lone leftover from last year’s state championship run — added eight points in the stanza. And with James Jones (12 points) wheeling and dealing under the basket, the Eagles quickly established a 16-3 advantage with 3:16 left in the quarter.
According to Lowell coach Bob Michalczyk, his team let this one slip away.
“(BC) were enormous, but we missed a bunch of layups and missed a bunch of free throws,” said Michalczyk. “If we don’t do that the game is a different story. We would have been down by three in the second half. It would have been a 1-2 possession game in the fourth. It sounds simple, but that’s kind of what it was.”
Meanwhile, BC High utilized its vocal fan base, giving them an additional lift.
“That fast start was so important,” said Draheim. “We got the crowd into it super early. That run to start was very big and the crowd helped us out, pushing us through the game.”
BC High coach Bill Loughnane said the breakout was key.
“We put in some special design plays,” said Loughnane, in his 19th season at the helm. “We wanted to get a quick start against this team. They’re just too quick to play from behind. We were lucky enough to get it, and lucky enough to take care of business.”
Fresh off a 61-52 preliminary round win over Malden, Feb. 28, the Red Raiders were forced to play catch-up the rest of the contest, cutting it to 18-12 by the end of the first quarter.
Lowell junior forward Xavier Rivera helped rally the troops. The 6-foot-5 forward found his footing by potting 15 first-half points, including a pair of treys.
“X was fantastic,” said Michalczyk. “This might be the best I’ve seen him play. I was very proud of him tonight. He set the tone. It could have gotten bad very quickly early on if he didn’t play like he did.”
Meanwhile, Lowell senior captain Javier Kirmil also showed plenty of heart and resilience. The 5-foot-11 guard buried a trey in the closing seconds of the half cutting the lead lead to 3722 at the half.
He continued to chip away spearheading a valiant second half push netting a team-high 25 points, bringing Lowell within 10 points of the Eagles.
“Javien is a competitor that plays hard and can shoot the ball really well,” said Michalczyk. “I think he might have hit three 3s in a row to give us some life and momentum. I’ve been very happy with him over the past few years.”
Losing just one senior, the coach is looking forward to seeing with the future holds in the years to come.
“I hope our younger guys, which is most of our team, take what they learned move on and get better with it. They played hard. They’ve just got to learn more fundamentals and be more students of the game,” he said.