BOSTON – First Central Catholic ? and now Brockton. Not only is the Lynn English boys basketball team heading to the Division 1 state final Saturday, the Dogs are designated giant killers.
For the second straight game, English stunned a top team tonight, beating Brockton, 90-83, in overtime at the Boston Garden.
The Bulldogs, 25-2, had to withstand a furious fourth-quarter comeback by the Boxers after hitting a high-water 12-point lead earlier in the fourth quarter.
However, when Brockton’s Tim Young hit a three-pointer with 40.8 seconds left in regulation, Brockton, which had last led in the early minutes, was ahead, 74-73. All the Boxers had to do was hold on.
But, said guard Jeremy Subervi, “there was no way we were going to lose this game. We worked too hard all year to go home. No way we were going to lose.”
Things looked even bleaker for the Boxers, however, when Louis Montes stood at the line shooting two with 22.2 seconds to go. But he front-rimmed the first one, giving English the opening it needed.
The Bulldogs put the ball in the hands of junior guard Ryan Woumn, who has quickly, over the course of the tournament, established himself as the premier point guard in Eastern Massachusetts. Sunday, in the D1 North final, he outplayed all-star guard Billy Marsden. Tonight, he put up 39 points to Brockton guard Henry Vargas’ 20. And with nine seconds left in regulation, Woumn went to the line to shoot two, and – hopefully – send the game into overtime.
He calmly swished them both.
“All I thought was ‘knock them down ? knock them down,” Woumn said. “Just like in practice. Knock them down.”
English still had to keep the explosive Boxers – who went into this game undefeated – from coming back down and scoring. Young tried a desperation three at the buzzer, but it was off line, and English had its life.
Once it got to OT, “there was no doubt in my mind we were going to win,” said Subervi.
English spotted Brockton the first two points in the overtime, but Englsh started pulling away. Subervi had six points in the extra session, but it was left to Woumn, who had four free throws (courtesy of a a technical and two regular free throws) to put the icing on the cake. And even though he missed the last one, that gave English an insurmountable nine-point lead with 34 seconds left.
“This feels tremendous,” said coach Buzzy Barton. “I can’t describe how it feels. It’s the greatest thing for a coach.
“There was no quit in these kids,” Barton said. “We had a tough road getting here. We had to play four tough teams just to get to the Garden, and then another one tonight. I feel like I’m dreaming, and I don’t want to wake up.”
English will play for the state title Saturday (7:30) at the DCU Center (formerly the Centrum) in Worcester against St. John’s of Shrewsbury.
