Roundup: Malden Catholic turns back Swampscott boys basketball

The improvement was apparent but the Swampscott High boys basketball team remained winless with a tough-luck 62-59 non-league loss to Catholic Conference foe Malden Catholic Sunday night at Swampscott.”It was a battle both ways and I couldn’t ask my players to play any harder than they did. We did a very good job against a Division One team that’s doing very well. We rebounded well and the defense was certainly there. I have to do a better job managing my timeouts. We got stuck with one left late in the game and I couldn’t get my players a rest,” said Swampscott coach Justin Fucile.Swampscott (0-6) shot out to a 17-12 lead after one quarter but MC, now 4-1, edged ahead by a point, 28-27, at the half, led 49-45 after three periods and held on in a game neither team led by more than four points and that was devoid of big runs. Swampscott was unable to cash in on an advantage in the paint, missing a number of close-range shots.Mike Walsh paced Swampscott with 17 points while Brian Sullivan (two 3-pointers) added 15 and Matt Duquette had nine points and seven rebounds in what Fucile called “his best game of the year.” MC’s Dom Mastrocola led all scorers with 23 points and Kyle Sangster knocked down three three-pointers. While Swampscott scored one more field goal, slight edges in three balls (7-4) and free throws (11-8) made the difference for the Lancers.BOYS HOCKEYBeverly 4, Danvers 3At Salem State, the Falcons held a 2-1 lead through two periods but yielded three unanswered third-period goals to suffer their first loss in a rugged affair Saturday. Trailing by one, the Falcons pulled goalie Seth Kamens but Beverly’s Brandon Mitchell found the empty net for the game-winner with 50 seconds to play, offsetting a Danvers goal with six seconds left.Senior captain Brian O’Keefe staked Danvers to a 1-0 lead in the first period on a penalty shot. Andrew Irving drew Beverly even in the second before the Falcons regained the lead on Jack McCarthy’s re-direct of O’Keefe’s goalmouth feed. That made it 2-1 but the Falcons were unable to seal the deal.Danvers (2-1-2; 1-1-1) resumes action Wednesday at Gloucester (O’Maley, 6 p.m.) while Beverly (5-2-0; 3-1-0) visits Winthrop (Larsen, 6:10 p.m.).GIRLS HOCKEYSt. Mary’s 2, Austin Prep 0The Lady Spartans improved to 3-0-0 in the Catholic Central League (4-0-1 overall) with this shutout of the Cougars (1-2-1; 0-1-0) at Stoneham Arena. St. Mary’s unbeaten streak now stands at 82 games (80-0-2).Sabrina Iannetti scored both Spartan goals, the first with 36 seconds left in the first period and the second with 11:28 left in the game. Sarah Foss had the shutout with 11 saves.Marblehead/Swampscott 8, Shawsheen 0Junior Casey McDonald netted a hat trick as Marblehead/Swampscott (5-1-0) rolled to its fifth consecutive win Saturday. The team resumes action next Saturday at Springfield Cathedral (1 p.m.)In other news, the Winthrop/English team saw Saturday’s scheduled game against Peabody get moved to Thursday, Feb. 24 (McVann-O’Keefe Rink, 1 p.m.) at Peabody’s request.