Bishop Fenwick, Winthrop looking for North titles

To virtually no one’s surprise, the Div. 3 North boys basketball final (Sunday, 3 p.m.) at Tsongas Arena in Lowell is a matchup between Bishop Fenwick and Watertown. It may be something of a surprise, however, that Crusaders’ coach Mike Kane thinks his top-seeded team is a slight underdog.”Watertown comes from a tough (Middlesex) League, and they’ve got a great basketball tradition,” Kane said. “And this setting is obviously something they’re used to.”The second-seeded Raiders (19-4) are playing in the Div. 3 North final for the fifth consecutive year. They lost to Lynn Tech in 2005 and Minuteman Tech in 2006 before finally breaking through in 2007 and winning the state title, defeating Fenwick in the North semifinals along the way. Last season, Watertown lost to Scituate in the state semifinals.Watertown is led by twins Kyle and Cory Stockmal, who have each scored 1,000 points in their careers. Kyle Stockmal is the two-time Middlesex League MVP and averages about 23 points per game. Point guard Benyam Kerman and Ricky Morrisey are two other Watertown players to watch.”Their rotation is only six players, but they all can play,” Kane said. “The one thing they don’t have is a lot of height, but they’re a scrappy team defensively.”The Raiders’ lack of height ought to be a boon for Catholic Conference MVP Mike Clifford, who in Fenwick’s 71-60 win in overtime against Wilmington in the semifinals, put up 26 points and grabbed 26 rebounds. He’s scored more than 1,700 points in his career at Fenwick and has collected more than 1,000 boards in the last three seasons (Clifford’s rebound total during his freshman year wasn’t kept).Guard Nolan DiPanfilo gives the Crusaders (20-2) an outside shooting presence, and he can also take the ball to the goal.According to Kane, the win over Wilmington – which knocked Fenwick out of the tournament last year – alleviated a lot of pressure for his team.”The North final is obviously a big game, but I think the kids are a little more relaxed now than they were at the start of the tournament,” Kane said.Winthrop vs. NCC@ Tsongas ArenaThe Div. 4 North final (1 p.m.) is a rematch from last year’s title game, when North Cambridge Catholic beat Winthrop on its way to a state championship.This year, Winthrop (21-4), the Northeastern Conference South Division, comes in as the second seed, while the Panthers (17-6) are seeded fourth. The Vikings have breezed into the final with three double-digit wins, have won 12 games in a row overall, and are looking for some revenge.”We’ve definitely talked about that,” Winthrop coach David Brown said. “It’s a different year and they have some different players, but having the chance to beat the team that knocked you out of the tournament last year definitely gives us a little extra incentive.”Winthrop is looking forward to playing this year’s final at Tsongas Arena. In years past, the Div. 4 North title game was held at Salem State’s Twohig Gym, a good venue but obviously a smaller one.North Cambridge Catholic is mostly a perimeter team led by Robinson Vilmont. The Panthers have some height in the middle, which should give them an advantage, since Winthrop relies mostly on the outside shooting of Dino Mallios and Gavin Mahoney.Mallios is going for a milestone on Sunday. He is just five points away from 1,000 for his career.”It’s going to be a tough game, but we play in a tough conference,” Brown said. “English is in the Division 1 final, Marblehead was a point away from making it to the Division 2 final, and we’re in the Division 4 final. We’re hoping to represent the Northeastern Conference well, along with Lynn English. We wish them good luck in their game against Central Catholic.”