Boys Hoop Roundup: St. Mary’s scores impressive win over Cathedral

The St. Mary’s basketball team walked into Cathedral High’s gym with very little margin for error – as far as making the state tournament goes – and knowing that it had to beat the Catholic Central League/Large champions.”We were behind the eight-ball coming in here,” said coach Kevin Moran. “They’re the class of the league.”The Spartans just concentrated on keeping their focus and maintaining their defensive intensity. And when the final horn sounded, they walked out of the gym with a 72-69 win.”This was an excellent win for us,” said Moran, whose team moved to 9-8 and within a game of clinching a tourney spot (with three to go). “It was a great game, too ? back and forth all the way.”The Spartans got off to a slow start, trailing 14-10 after one, and 31-29 at the break. But the hero of the day, Moran said, was Chris Kefalas, who came off the bench in the second half and scored all 10 of his points.”He really did a good job of settling the ball and making the most of his opportunities,” Moran said. “He clearly led the way for us tonight.”The Spartans got one point back in the third quarter, and trailed, 49-48, and hung in throughout the fourth quarter.”Whoever got into the game that day had a great effort,” Moran said.Other high scorers for St. Mary’s were John Bakopolus (17 points) and Tyler Grillo (14).Max Barbosa, the CCL’s leading scorer, had 18 points for Cathedral while Jason Williams had 26.Classical 58, Peabody 44At Classical, the Rams defense held the visitors to just 23 points in the first three quarters en route to the comfortable win.Jarell Byrd had 20 points to lead Classical while Quivari Jackson also reached double figures with 16. Kevin Skop led Peabody with eight points.English 58, Beverly 50At Beverly, the Bulldogs (16-2) found themselves in a 32-23 hole at the half but rode the back of a stifling 2-3 zone and hot shooting in the second half to take the win.Justin Young led English with 14 points. Eugene Turner and Ryan Woumn had 13 and Charlie Rucker added 12. Beverly (11-6) got 22 points from Matt Tobin and 13 from Matt McQuaid.Minuteman 61, Tech 48At Lexington, the Tigers (11-7, 10-4 Commonwealth Conference) found themselves tied at the half, but things when downhill in the final two quarters. Victor Smith (20 points) and Jake Canty (12 points) provided the bulk of the Tech offense.Winthrop 40, Marblehead 31At Winthrop, the 12-4 Vikings moved into a position to tie for the Northeastern Conference/South title if they can beat Saugus Friday and Marblehead loses to Swampscott.”Both of us sat in zones throughout the game, and Marblehead forced us into a lot of turnovers,” said Winthrop coach Dave Brown.However, Mark Jenkins (nine points overall) hit two threes late in the fourth quarter to open up some breathing room.”We knew we had to play great defense,” Brown said. “Marblehead’s been holding teams in the 40s all winter long.”Jonathan Murdoch led the way for Winthrop with 15 points. The Vikings held Marblehead’s players, individually, to single digits. Damola Abu led the way with eight.Ham-Wen 81, Lynnfield 71At Lynnfield, the Pioneers, 10-9, have already clinched a tourney spot, but they’ve lost two in a row, “and I don’t want to go into it with a losing streak,” said coach Scott McKenzie.Lynnfield trailed at the half, 38-35, and was down by six going into the fourth quarter.Jeff Milinazzo scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds. Others in double figures were Mike Kennedy (18 points) and Matt Connolly (14, along with seven assists).John Mehr had nine points, but pulled down 14 rebounds.S’scott 75, G’ster 52At Swampscott, the Big Blue (13-5) broke open a close game in the second quarter and cruised to the victory.”It was a good game, and both teams played hard,” said Swampscott coach Paul Moran.Swampscott had four players in double figures: Ryan Squires (21), Craig Rodenstein (14), John Beaulieu (14) and Scott Leffler (13).Fenwick 75, Spellman 35At Fenwick, Mike Clifford scored 26 points and pulled