English pulls away from Classical to win Boverini boys title

LYNN ? Round one to English ?Rafael Perez scored 22 points and Ryan Woumn added 21 to lead the Lynn English High boys basketball team to an 84-73 win over Classical, Friday night, in the championship game of the Walter J. Boverini Tournament, at St. Mary’s Conigliaro Gym.The game between the two rivals, who both came in unbeaten, was the first of their three meetings this season, with the next coming this Friday, at Classical.”Oh yeah, we’re looking forward to playing them again,” English coach Buzzy Barton said. “We’ll take (Saturday) off and then we’ll get back to work. Classical showed tonight how good a team they are.”The Rams (5-1) weren’t quite as good as the Bulldogs (6-0) last night, however. English only trailed twice during the game, for a total of 1:07 in the first quarter. The Bulldogs led by as many as 14 points in the second quarter and had their largest lead at 17 with 4:17 remaining in the game.”The difference was really their pressure defense,” Classical coach Tom Grassa said. “They forced us into 21 turnovers, and I always say turnovers are like cholesterol – there’s a good version and a bad version.”The bad ones lead to uncontested layups and 3-on-1 fast breaks, and I’ll bet a lot of our turnovers tonight were bad ones,” Grassa said.Jarell Byrd led all scorers with 26 points for Classical, while Jasper Grassa and Tony Wonde added 11 apiece. Grassa, Quivari Jackson and Tony Johnson – three of the Rams’ starters – were plagued by foul trouble and had to sit out a significant portion of the first half while the Bulldogs built their lead.The Rams had one run left in them early in the second half, as a couple of buckets by Johnson and a free throw by Byrd got the Bulldogs’ lead down to nine (49-40), but Furcy Ferreras glassed in a runner from the right side and Charlie Rucker (12 points) put back a rebound. English’s lead was never less than double-digits again.”We were just a little deeper than they were,” Barton said. “We wanted to keep the tempo going at a fast pace and use our depth to wear them down.”The Bulldogs never quite put the Rams away until the middle of the fourth quarter, though, when Woumn and Eugene Turner each made a steal and layup on consecutive possessions to make the score 76-59.”I’m happy with my team’s effort,” Grassa said. “They hung in there, but English in a tough, physical team.”In the consolation game, Lynn Tech – which had won the Boverini Tournament title the past three years – blasted St. Mary’s, 70-43.English’s Perez was named the tourney MVP, and he was joined on the all-tournament team by Ferraras and Woumn. Also slected for the all-tournament team were Classical’s Byrd, Victor Smith from Tech and Chris Kefalas from St. Mary’s.