Winthrop boys drop heartbreaker to North Cambridge Catholic in OT

LOWELL ? After leading for most of the game, and jumping out to a seven-point lead in overtime, Winthrop’s boys basketball team lost in heartbreaking fashion to North Cambridge Catholic, 65-62, in the Division 4 North final.”That was a truly exciting game,” Vikings coach Dave Brown said. “(NCC) is a great basketball team. They really hit some clutch shots.”The Panthers were not the only players hitting clutch shots, though. Gavin Mahoney made a mad scramble down the court, finding an open spot behind the three-point line, and drained a shot while falling down as the buzzer rang.The real story of the game was the absolute dominance of Dino Mallios. Mallios, who is only a junior, scored his 1,000th career point on a buzzer-beating three-pointer at the end of the first quarter. He was also clearly the best player on the floor, scoring a game-high 34 points.”Dino really proved how good of a player he really is,” NCC coach Daniel Salazar said. “We had a guy constantly in his face. Not only was he finding ways to get the ball, but he was raining in threes all day.”The second-ranked Vikings controlled the first half. Mallios led the way with 19 first-half points, earning nine of those points from the three-point line. As a team, Winthrop went 5-for-8 from the three-point line in the first half.Winthrop was also perfect from the free-throw line in the first half, going 7-for-7. It went 11-for-14 on the day, but one of those misses was on purpose in the closing seconds of overtime.The Vikings entered the second half pretty cold. They only managed six third-quarter points, and did not score for the first three minutes of the half. Will Milano broke up the scoring troubles by draining a three-pointer.The Panthers took this as a chance to scratch and crawl their way back into the game. Mario Monroe and Brandon Bowman, who both struggled greatly in the first half thanks to the defensive effort of Anthony Hatzisavas, finally started taking control of the paint. Bowman in particular stepped up his game. He finished with 11 points, but scored the Panthers’ final six points in regulation.”We were missing a lot of shots in the interior,” said Salazar. “Once we started making those opportunities, it was a different game.”In overtime, it was NCC’s sophomore guard Robinson Vilmont’s time to shine. He achieved a rare four-point play with the Panthers trailing by seven. Only moments later, he scored another three to tie the game up.”We just tried to stay focused (when we were losing by seven),” Vilmont said. “We kept our composure and got back into the game.”The Panthers won their second-consecutive Division 4 North title, while the Vikings finished up their best finish in 22 years.”We’re all a little down right now,” said Brown. “But when we take some time to look back on what we accomplished this season, I think we’ll all be proud.”