By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
When you're one of the top-ranked teams in the state, you learn how to cope. You learn how to survive.
You try to never forget how to win.
Undefeated Lawrence Central Catholic, presently No. 1 in the MaxPreps.com state ranking, coped and survived last Friday night, getting outplayed for 29 of the game's 32 minutes, but pulling out a 50-43 Merrimack Valley Conference win against Andover before a crowd of 1,400 at Andover.
Central Catholic, 5-0 overall, 2-0 MVC, used a brief 11-0 run midway through the second half to secure the victory. Otherwise, the night belonged to neighboring Andover (5-2, 2-1).
"We dictated tempo, we played our style and we had (Central Catholic) going East to West," Andover coach Dave Fazio told the Lawrence Eagle Tribune.
"Maybe we thought too much about blowing (Andover) out by 27 the last time, and we thought it was going to be more of the same," reasoned Central Catholic guard Wilfredo Pagan. "Andover came out with intensity and passion. It took a long time for us to match it."
Central Catholic's Billy Marsden, who missed his first 10 shots from the floor, helped his teamÿwrap up the victory in the end, scoring six consecutive points at crunch time.
Central was at the 10-foul double-bonus mark with over five minutes left and hit 20 of 24 from the line in the final two quarters, 24 ofÿ 29 for the game.
"As embarrassed as I was after the Christmas Tourney loss, I'm that proud of my kids tonight," Fazio said of his Andover team. "We just didn't get any help at all, and that's a tough advantage (24-2 from the foul line) to overcome."
Marsden, who had just one point with four minutes left in the game, finished with a team-high 14. The night also marked the return of Adrian Gonzalez to the Central lineup. The senior, still recovering from a strained oblique muscle, came off the bench to score 10 points.
Greg Cook scored a game-high 17 for Andover.
Watertown Ends Lexington Home Winning Streak
Lexington had its 43-game home winning streak snapped as the playmaking of junior guard Benyam Kerman led Watertown to a 76-64 Middlesex League victory against the Minutemen.
Lexington's previous loss at home had come during the 2004-05 season, also against Watertown.
"That was the best guard performance against us in years and years," said Lexington coach Bob Farias told the Boston Globe, referring to Kerman. "He was in complete control of the game out there."
"To me, Kerman was the player of the game," said Watertown coach Steve Harrington. "(Kerman) came back after playing a lot of minutes off the bench for last year's (state championship) team. The ball is his and the team is his. He really shined tonight in a big game. His decision making was fantastic."
Eleventh-ranked (in the East) Lexington scored the game's first five points, but Watertown responded by scoring the next 13 and never trailed. Ninth-ranked Watertown led by 20 on two occasions in the third quarter and by 18 with about six minutes to go before Lexington tried to rally.
The chief beneficiary of Kerman's playmaking was guard Kyle Stockman, who scored 21 of his game-high 34 points for Watertown in the second half.
"It wasn't just the assists, it was the way (Kerman) created," Harrington said. "A lot of times those assists go on easy lay-ups, which we got, but (Kerman) created open looks all over the court for a bunch of different guys."
Danny O'Keefe paced Lexington with 22 points (12 in the second half), while senior Scott Tavares scored 18.
Brockton Knocks off Undefeated Cambridge R&L
Brockton, ranked sixth in Eastern Massachusetts, got a late basket from Jarrod DeVaughn and two late free throws from Louis Montes and edged No. 4 and previously unbeaten Cambridge Rindge & Latin, 85-82.
The game was the first one back for Montes, who missed the Boxers' opening five contests with an ankle injury. The All-Scholastic forward finished with 17 points and a spectacular dunk, but also showed some rust.
"You could see Louis was dragging a little," Brockton coach Bobby Boen told the Boston Herald. "But that's also because Cambridge is such a quick team, they made him work."
Brockton (5-1) then turned around three nights later and crushed another previously undefeated team, Dartmouth, 93-55.
"Brockton is just so quick, so athletic," Dartmouth coach Steve Gaspar told the Brockton Enterprise. "They have such great players; they're just a great team. They are, I think personally, one of the top five teams in the state. But this is going to help us down the road, playing teams like that. We're not going to see many teams as quick as that."
Trapasso, St. John's Prevail Against Doherty
In a meeting between the Nos. 5 and 6 teams in Central Massachusetts, junior guard Anthony Trapasso connected on eight of nine field goal attempts and scored a team-high 17 points as fifth-ranked St. John's won at No. 6 Doherty, 74-54.
"I thought Anthony Trapasso was just outstanding," St. John's coach Bob Foley told the Worcester Telegram. "When it was a real dog-eat-dog game the first third of the game, he came up with one big hoop after another. We know how strong Doherty is; they are one of the best teams in the area and to be able to beat them down here.we are just very happy with where we are right now."ÿ
"It was a four-point game at the half, and Marquis Rose got in foul trouble early, and we had to sit him at about the four-minute mark of the first quarter," Doherty coach Ed Capstick said. "So that was with one of our very key guys on the bench, so we were very happy at the half being down four. But it just came unraveled in the third quarter."
St. John's came on strong in the third quarter, limiting Doherty to two field goals and seven points.
"St. John's is tough; I saw them play Marlboro the other night and they had a great third quarter," Capstick said. "We had a stretch in the middle of the third quarter, where we had them turn the ball over a couple times and we made good things happen, but we couldn't finish, whether it was going to the foul line and missing two foul shots or missing bunnies."
Mount Everett's Jordan Rote Sets Scoring Mark
Sometimes scoring 44 points in a game almost isn't good enough.
Jordan Rote of Mount Everett netted a school-record 44 points, but his team barely held on to defeat Franklin Tech, 68-67, in western Massachusetts.
"I was pretty amazed myself," Rote told the Berkshire Eagle. Rote made 17 baskets, including five 3-pointers.
Franklin Tech, meanwhile, was led by Jeremy Roberts' 25 points, while Ray Mitchell added 21 points and had 16 rebounds.
"Our defensive intensity kept us from folding," Mount Everett coach Jason Brown said. "We're beginning to learn. If it was last year, we probably would have folded."
Rote said he didn't think he had 44 points in him. Early in the game, he missed a first-quarter dunk and tweaked his knee. Instead, it was his defense that fueled his point-scoring spree, he felt.
"I think I had 25 points off steals," Rote offered.
Lowell Continues to Roll
Matt Welch, Jaime Shannon and Fernando Perez combined to score 57 points as Lowell moved to 6-0 by downing visiting Somerville, 81-65, in a non-league game at the Riddick Fieldhouse.
Welch scored 23 points and had five assists, while Shannon and Perez added 18 and 16, respectively. David Brown added 11 points for Lowell, while Nate Simpson hauled in 12 rebounds and Julian Scott made three steals.
Sabis Stays Sharp Against Division I Foes
Sabis International Charter, the two-time Western Massachusetts Division III champions, finished its independent schedule at 4-0 - including 3-0 against Division I opponents - as it beat West Springfield, 61-58.
Senior forward Quinton McMillian had a huge game for Sabis (4-0) and the Bulldogs held the region's top scorer to half his season's average in a game in Springfield.
"I couldn't be more pleased with the win our kids got tonight," first-year coach Jim Mack told the Springfield Republican. "That's three Division I tournament teams we've picked up wins on."
Sabis also has victories over Westfield and West Roxbury. It utilized the quickness and strength of McMillian to hand West Springfield (4-1) its first loss.
McMillian scored a season-high 29 points and pulled down 17 rebounds. He also played a role in limiting West Springfield guard Joe Ragland to 14 points, half of his 28-point average.
"We did a good job early on just feeding the post with Quinton," Mack said. "He had nine
lay-ups in the first half.ÿ(West Springfield)ÿdid a better job in the second half by doubling down."
Ragland, who had 30-plus points in his first three games, was held to four field goals as McMillian and Gesse Etienne played him man-to-man
"They just played him man and Gesse did an exceptional job denying him the ball," Mack said.
Andre King added 16 points and Nick Holland 10 for Sabis.
Many Regrets, No Excuses From Leominster Girls Coach
St. Bernard went to the foul line 40 times last Friday night in its game against Leominster, a fact that would have undoubtedly infuriated many losing coaches.
Leominster coach Chris Young, however, blamed his own team for the foul-calling discrepancies in a 71-63 loss by the Blue Devils.
"It was legit," Young told the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise. "We played flat out lazy defense and that's what you get. (St. Bernard) gets to go to the line a million times and they shoot, and they deserved every one of them. I'm very disappointed in our defense. Defense is all inside. It's in your gut and in your heart and you have to want to play."
The only thing that helped keep the game close was poor foul shooting by St. Bernard (21-of-40).
"We're a better free throw shooting team than we were tonight," St. Bernard's coach Kim Landry said. "We're around 80 percent on the season. But I'm proud of them. They made some big free throws down the stretch and made some big shots down the stretch."
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com Northeast Media Manager, as well as a photographer and columnist. He may be reached at 203-563-2297 or at jstout@maxpreps.com.
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