By Jim Stout
MaxPreps.com
Postseason basketball is always full of surprises. The days leading up to the state tournament can raise a few eyebrows as well.
Such was the case last Friday in Roxbury, where Eastern Massachusetts' fourth-ranked team, East Boston, was trying to gain the measure of No. 1 Madison Park after dropping two games to the Cardinals earlier this season.
East Boston, the No. 2 seed for this week's state Division 1 North sectional tournament, served notice as to its potential in the post-season as it handed Madison Park its first home loss in two seasons with a 79-60 victory in capturing the Boston City League championship.
East Boston (19-2) hit 10 3-point field goals in 25 attempts to help fuel the win and claim its second City title in three years.
"I just knew if we came in and didn't let (Madison Park) dictate the pace, we could get it done," East Boston coach Malcolm Smith told the Boston Globe. "We were very reluctant in the first two meetings."
Jeff Cannon went 5-of-10 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 19 points in coming off the bench for East Boston. The Jets also had three starters reach double figures: Tyrone Hughes (13 points, six assists), Jarrett Calhoun (15 points) and Aaron Williams (13 points, nine in the second half.
Madison Park, which will be the No. 1 seed in the MIAA Division I South playoffs, lost for the first time after winning its first 19 games of 2006-07. The result left Boston College High and Lexington as the lone undefeated teams among the elite.
Six-foot-6, 250-pound Madison Park center Peterson Bernard scored 18 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. His lay-up with under six minutes remaining in the game drew the Cardinals to within 56-50, but Williams followed with a 3-pointer to push the East Boston lead to nine points.
"I found a new player today in Aaron Williams," Smith said of his 6-foot-2 junior guard, who was named the City League tournament MVP. "I don't know where he has been all year, but he came through today.
"(Madison Park) is a very tough place to play in," Smith added, "so that's a credit to our guys."
BC High Looks to Make a Point
Their record this is season 20-0. Their ranking in Eastern Mass is No. 2. Their success in recent years is nearly unparalleled. Last week they captured the highly competitive Comcast pre-state tournament tune-up in their own gym.
Still, Boston College High hears the whispers and reads the Internet chatter - the Eagles can't win the Big One when the Division I tournament rolls around.
"It's almost like we're joking around about it, but also it's kind of motivation to show those people that, hey, we're just as good as any other team here," senior point guard Chris Hurley told the Quincy Patriot-Ledger. "We want respect, just like anybody else."
The Eagles' record of stumbling in the postseason has been well chronicled.
Last year, second-seeded BC fell to Madison Park, 75-72, in the South semifinals. In 2005, the Eagles fell to Bridgewater-Raynham in the quarterfinals. In 2004, Brookline eliminated BC in the sectional final. Brookline also knocked BC out in 2002, while it was Durfee that turned the elimination trick in 2003.
Will this season be any different? The coming days and weeks will tell. BC closed out the regular season last week by winning its own highly regarded Comcast Tournament, routing two-time defending Division 1 state champ Newton North, 54-38, in the final.
"It was nice to come together (in the final week) as a team and prove ourselves once again," said junior guard Tim McKinney. "All year, people have doubted us, questioning what we're capable of doing. So it was just nice to come out and get two wins.
"Ever since the beginning of the season there's been one goal, and that's all we've really focused on," McKinney added. "It's either a state championship or a lost cause, I guess you could say."
Second-seeded BC will host either Brockton or Xaverian in the Division 1 South sectional quarterfinals on Saturday. The Eagles hope that their imposing size, combined with the diversity of their offense, will carry them through.
"It's good to have not just one player scoring, because come tournament time, if he's not scoring, then you're going to be looking at somebody else," Hurley said. "We've already done that. We're more well rounded than we were last year. I can give (the ball) to any one of the four guys on the floor and have it work out for us."
Lexington Finishes at 20-0
Like BC High, No. 3 Lexington closed out its regular season with an unblemished record, pounding Burlington, 89-41, on Senior Night.
Following a pre-game ceremony honoring the team's seven seniors - owners of a 68-3 record and three Middlesex League titles - the seniors went out and combined to score 57 of their team's 89 points.
"(Lexington) is a very good team that has a lot of depth and is well coached," Burlington coach Nick Papas told the Lexington Minuteman. "They have a real good chance at winning a state championship."
A basket by senior Tom Henneberry (16 points), a free-throw and back-to-back 3-pointer's by senior Ross Curley (8 points) and a put-back by Matt Cunha (a game-high 20 points) during the first 1:45 of the game got Lexington (20-0) off to its rapid-fire start.
Lexington is the No. 1 seed for the state Division 1 North tournament and will face either No. 16 Chelmsford or No. 17 Acton-Boxboro after enjoying a preliminary-round bye.
Springfield Schools Finish Strongly
Springfield's High School of Commerce and Central High closed out the regular season with wins last Friday and wound up tied for first place in the Valley League.
In a doubleheader at Central, Commerce commenced the evening's affairs by dumping the High School of Science and Technology, 88-59. Central followed with a 72-56 beating of Amherst-Pelham.
Commerce (15-5) and Central (14-6) finished 8-2 in the league. Commerce, the defending league champion, has either won outright or tied for first place in the league five straight seasons. Central earned its first piece of the crown since 1999.
The loss to Commerce was particularly tough for Sci-Tech (9-11, 4-6), which needed the win to earn a spot in the Division I West sectional tournament. Commerce will be the No. 1 seed in Division 1 West, while Commerce will be No. 4.
"It (the league title) is not all we play for, but winning the league five years in a row is a great accomplishment," Commerce senior Vinny Baker told the Springfield Republican.
"We know that we've won eight (games) in a row, and beating Central the last time we played, we knew if we won tonight we'd probably get the number one seed in the (state) tournament, which is usually the easiest path in the tournament."
Cathedral Does It the Hard Way
Cathedral High of Springfield knows all about paths of difficult resistance. The Panthers have been on one for the entire season, playing all of their games on the road.
Why would Game 20 be any different?
Down by six points with 50 seconds to play, Cathedral rallied to upset Holyoke, 43-40, and squeeze into the West Division I sectionals on the final day.
"I'm pretty proud of the kids," said Cathedral coach Gene Eggleston. "We've been on the road in reality for 10 weeks and 20 games and for us to make the tournament ..."
Cathedral (10-10, 4-6 Valley League) needed one win in its final four games to qualify for the state tournament, but lost the first three to Sci-Tech, Central and Commerce. Its final chance came against Holyoke (16-5), which had beaten Cathedral by 34 points less than three weeks ago.
"It was a gutsy win by Cathedral," said Holyoke coach Bill Rigali said. "We played good defense the second half and Cathedral didn't give up. We had some mental breakdowns and Cathedral took advantage. We got exactly what we deserved."
Cathedral would face Holyoke again in the quarterfinals of the Division 1 West tournament if it beats Pittsfield in the first round.
Jim Stout is the MaxPreps.com Master Photographer for the Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and a Northeast Region columnist. He may be reached at 203-563-2297 or at j.stout@jmstout.org.
