Boys Basketball: Eagles are checkmated by CM

It was looking like it was going to be another win for the St. John’s Prep basketball team on Tuesday at Memorial Gym in Danvers as the Eagles had an 18-point third-quarter lead against Catholic Memorial.The Prep was seemingly on the way to claiming the Catholic Conference title outright before a funny thing happened: the Knights lit up the scoreboard.CM stormed back from that huge deficit, thanks in large part to 14 3-pointers as a team, to stun the Eagles, 84-79, and hand them their first loss of the season.”We just couldn’t find a way to stop them in the second half,” Prep coach Sean Connolly said. “We got that big lead and then had a bunch of turnovers that got them right back in the game.”The Eagles (15-1, 6-1) led 19-14 after one and 39-30 at the half. They still had a 59-53 lead heading to the fourth quarter before the Knights lit it up for 31 points to complete the comeback.Pat Connaughton had another of his stellar performances for the Prep in the loss, finishing with 31 points and 17 rebounds. Steve Haladyna added 13 points and 18 rebounds. Mackenzie Burt had 12 and Mike Carbone added 10 to put four Prep players in double figures.The Eagles are at Xaverian on Friday (7) with a chance to claim a share of the league title.Tech 63, Gr. Lowell 35At the T. O’Connor Field House in Lynn, the Tigers (10-6, 10-2 Commonwealth Conference) are on their way to the state tournament for an 11th consecutive season thanks to the easy win.The Tigers, who are riding a five-game winning streak, parlayed an 11-point lead after three quarters into an 18-point win thanks in large part to the efforts of Trey Gallo and B-Jay Baptiste, who each scored 12 points, and Mike Duarte and Richie Warren Jr., who were both good for 10 points.”We’re getting hot at the right time, at the end of the season,” coach Marvin Avery said. “Everyone’s contributing. We had four guys in double figures. I’m really satisfied with the way the team is playing.”English 86, Beverly 56At Beverly, Ryan Woumn had a game-high 29 points as the Bulldogs (14-0, 12-0 NEC North) bombarded the Panthers with 31 second-quarter points to assume complete control of this one.Irving Vizcaino added 17 and Keandre Stanton finished with 12 for the Bulldogs. Curtis Manuel had 24 to lead Beverly.Winthrop 63, Marblehead 46At Winthrop, the Vikings (15-2, 10-2 NEC South) clinched at least a share of a second straight conference title with the win.Robert Swanson and Dino Mallios paced the Winthrop offense with 15 points each. Mark Jenkins finished with 12 for the Vikes. Matt Temme led Marblehead (7-8) with 15 points.Arl. Cath. 69, Fenwick 64At Fenwick, the Crusaders (3-11) fought back to within two late in the fourth quarter but couldn’t complete the comeback. Trevor Grace had 17 points to pace a trio of Fenwick players in double figures.Alex Morsey added 16 points and Pat Lyons finished with 13 points and seven rebounds.Salem 78, Revere 65At Revere, the Witches (12-5, 8-4) exploded for 33 second-quarter points to pull away for a big road win. Raphy Medrano led all scorers with 29 for the Witches.Salem also got 14 points and 12 rebounds from Sean Linehan along with 14 from Antonio Reyes and 10 from Zeke Dominguez. Revere was led by Greg Cabral’s 26 points and 17 from Trae Weathers.Gloucester 59, Swampscott 54At Swampscott, Gloucester had a 57-54 lead with 10 seconds left. Swampscott took a three-point shot for the tie that rattled out. Leading the way for Gloucester was Michael Tomaino with a team-high 16 points. Adam Philpott chipped in with 12 points. For Swampscott, Mike Wallace had a game-high 21 points. Brian Sullivan chipped in with 20 points. Swampscott is 1-14.