Basketball Roundup: Classical girls impress vs. Mt. St. Joseph’s

The Classical High girls basketball team kept its hopes for a trip to the postseason alive with a 63-29 win over Mt. St. Joseph’s Thursday in Brighton.The Rams (9-8) need to win one of their final three games. They still have Salem, Peabody and English on the docket.”We’re still in striking distance,” Classical coach Tom Sawyer said. “It won’t be an easy road.”Solid defense and balanced scoring did the trick against Mt. St. Joseph’s. Keila Brown led the pack with 14 points, but Christina McKenzie and Peirina Mora were right on her heels with 13 points. Sochetta Men contributed 10.It was the defense, however, that Sawyer was most pleased about.”The story was our defense. We only gave up 29 points,” he said.BOYS BASKETBALLTech 71, Whittier 47At Tech, the Tigers (11-5, 10-2 Commonwealth Conference) made it six wins in a row. Victor Smith had 18 points, and three players, Richie Warren Jr., Felix Rios and Josh Cheever, had nine each. Jose Rios was also productive with eight points.”Our goals is to finish strong,” Tech coach Marvin Avery said, adding that both the young players and the veterans did their job.