Malden Catholic gets the best of St. John’s Prep

DANVERS ? For Catholic Conference opponents, beating Malden Catholic used to be as easy as a breakaway layup.Used to be.In a game they entirely deserved to win, the Lancers (4-4) knocked off St. John’s Prep, 61-48, Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium for their first victory in the top-heavy league since the 2004-05 season.”We’re very, very happy,” Malden Catholic coach Mike Paladino said. “To come in here and beat a great program like St. John’s Prep is just sensational. I’m really happy for our players.”The star of the game for Malden Catholic was guard Rom Cius, who scored 14 points and except for a 5-minute stretch at the end of the first half when he was in foul trouble had the chore of guarding St. John’s all-everything scorer, Ryan O’Connell.O’Connell scored 14 points total, half of which came with Cius on the bench.”He did a magnificant job,” Paladino said of Cius. “It was a team effort, of course, but for him to step up and hold a great player like Ryan O’Connell to three points in (the second half) was just phenomenal.”The Eagles (5-4) were playing their fourth game in eight days, and several players were suffering from the flu, but Prep coach Dan Letarte used neither as an excuse.”We dropped an egg. That’s all,” Letarte said. “We just came out stagnant. I could tell right from the start of the game that we were flat.”But take nothing away from Malden Catholic,” Letarte added. “They played harder and they wanted it more.”After the first half ended in a 24-24 tie, the Lancers took over in the third quarter behind the offense of center Cliften Bonner-Desravines (13 of his game-high 20 points) and the defense of Cius, who held O’Connell without a point.Malden Catholic went on a 12-0 run over 3:40 to take their largest lead of the game at 44-28. The Eagles closed out the period with a 6-2 run and Mike Hall put back a rebound to close St. John’s deficit to 10 points, but the Eagles never got closer the rest of the way.Cius all but slammed the lid shut when he worked the shot clock down to five seconds and then slashed his way to the hoop to make the score 51-36, with 4:50 left in the game.For Malden Catholic, Corey Ryser added 15 points, mostly on 3-pointers in the first half. Darius Sealy (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Lancers.Sam Baker (11 points) was the only other player in double figures for the Prep. O’Connell was 5-for-18 from the floor, including 1-for-9 from beyond the 3-point arc, proving even the best have off days. Dustin Hoffman was Ishtar, and Led Zeppelin recorded the “Presence” album.”It’s the first time (Cius) has guarded him and he did a really good job,” Letarte said. “He didn’t allow Ryan a lot of space.”In a plodding first quarter, a couple of 3-pointers by Ryser helped the Lancers take a 16-9 lead. O’Connell scored 11 points in the second period, and his jumper from the foul line with exactly one minute left in the opening half gave the Prep their last lead of the game at 24-23.